


Land of Domination

by Lieutenant_Eclipse



Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Anthropomorphic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-11-17 07:45:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 15
Words: 49,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11271147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lieutenant_Eclipse/pseuds/Lieutenant_Eclipse
Summary: Under the Princess' advise, Eclipse joined the Equestrian Royal Air Force. During a training, his squad was being attacked by unknown forces from the Griffonstone Empire. No one knows how, when or why they are here, but they are surely not the nicest people to ask.





	1. Dawn of War

It was a peaceful day, with the sun shining warming and tenderly on the magical land of Equestria. One man was walking down the street, alone and injured. His depression seemed out of tune with the cheerful environment he was in. The pedestrians walking past me all looked that man with a strange sight, as to wonder what in Equestria could happen to the man to make him that upset.

He was beaten, and had his power taken away from him. A few drips of blood flowed down his nostril and the corner of his lips. His clothes were stained with his sweat and blood.

This injured man, is me. The man who wrote this story.

My name, is Eclipse, and that’s what I know and remember that day.

-

“Eclipse, you are a strong man. We could make great use of men like you in our national defence. You should consider signing up in joining the Royal Air Force.” The white-furred, Princess Celestia told me.

“But Your Royal Highness, he-“ A man in uniform next to me urged.

“Calm, Sergeant. With some magic-control, it would be like taming a wild beast, and a valuable asset in our arsenal.” 

“Sigh… Roger that Your Royal Highness.”

It was the last few dialogues I remembered from being abducted and released from a castle.

Whatever happened before those dialogues, my background, my identity, were all unknown, to me and possibly everyone else.

-

I sat down on a bench in the park, wiping off the blood dripping down from my nostril with my hand.. People passed by me as if I was invisible. 

What am I?

I haven’t the slightest clue.

It had been quite a long while since I sat on the bench, with the warming sun about to set at the west. It was then, one pink-maned girl stopped in front of me. 

I raised my head to look at the figure that stopped in front of me, and at my vision’s angle of elevation, stood a young lady in a violet uniform, a recurve bow oh her back, looking at me curiously with her pair of bright, lime-green eyes.

“Excuse me, sir, are you alright?”

“Oh, uhh… Yes, I’m ok, thank you.” I replied, while I looked at her face. 

It was probably my first memory of “Beautiful” things.

She smiled and sat down next to me, and proceeded to treat my wounds carefully. 

As she finished wrapping the last bandage on my arms, I complimented, “Thank you, Ma’am. You are good-looking, you know.”

She blushed a little, “Well thank you sir, it’s very nice of you to say so. Why are you so injured but not seek medical attention?”

“I… I couldn’t recall what happened, but the last thing I remember is the Princess saying something about advising me to join the military, as I might be useful for them.”

“You know, if you’ve got the aptitude, it isn’t a bad idea. Anyways, I have a duty to attend to, couldn’t hang around, I guess I’ll see you around someday, goodbye.”

“But wait! I… uh… I don’t even know your name.” I blushed, as this impulsive sentence came out from my mouth.

She smiled. Like a merciful guardian angel.

“Aerial Security Regiment, Chief Sentinel Lightningbolt. How about you?”

“Name’s Eclipse. Nice to meet you.”

“Alright then, got to go.”

“Well then, thank you again, kind one.”

With my farewell said, she stood up and flew away to the distant skies.

“So that’s that. I guess I’d be learning to fight.” I stood up, staring up at the blue sky.

And it was then, my life as a warrior, a soldier, began.


	2. The Fall Mountains Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Under the Princess' advise, Eclipse joined the Equestrian Royal Air Force. During a training, his squad was being attacked by unknown forces from the Griffonstone Empire. No one knows how, when or why they are here, but they are surely not the nicest people to ask.

After asking some soldiers on guard post around the region I was in, I managed to get some useful information. The place I was in is called Canterlot, the Capital of the Equestria Empire, with Princess Celestia and her sister, Princess Luna as the monarchs that supervised and basically kept the day night cycle going.

And after some more questioning, I managed to know more about the “Royal Air Force” that Princess Celestia previously told me about. They were based in Cloudsdale - a city that floats on the clouds.

So as the Princess advised, I flew to the city of Cloudsdale, to enlist as a soldier of the Royal Air Force.

It wasn’t difficult to find my way towards the Air Force base, as it was a very distinct dark grey colour building standing on the fluffy white clouds, which you can spot it almost from anywhere of Cloudsdale. 

At the entrance of the base, I saw the same man in the same uniform, who used to stand next to me in the castle, standing guard. As I approached him, he didn’t quite react.

“So you do have some balls to come here.” He said.

“Huh? What do you mean? I thought Princess Celestia told me to-“

“You better get out of here before I get mad.” He pressed his right hand hard on the pistol holster on his leg, while leaning forward to intimidate me and make me step backwards.

“Okay, okay, no need to get mad, I’ll go!” I backed off a little, but didn’t leave the base entrance.

“Sergeant Major Sky Striker! What are you doing?” A deep, male commanding voice came from the base. A middle-aged man stepped out of the compound.

“Good Afternoon Captain.” The man on guard stood straight and saluted to the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man turned towards me. “You must be Eclipse. The Princess had sent exclusive orders to us to recruit and train you.”

“Umm… okay…” I was a bit timid as that guard stared at me with a not so pleasant face.

“Now come on, no need to be shy. We’ll talk inside.”

-

Inside a Medium-sized office, the middle-aged man sat behind his desk, in front of me and the guard.

“My name is Captain Aviator Windspear, and this is Sergeant Major Sky Lannister.” He raised a hand to point at the guy next to me.

Striker took a quick glance at me, with his somewhat arrogant face.

“Now comes the most important question, are you determined to join the Equestria Royal Air Force? Attitude is the most important part of being a soldier.” The Captain asked me.

“I guess I haven’t got a choice anyways.” It was true. I haven’t got a choice. Where can a man like me ever find a job? I have no idea what my past is, no place to live, no one to help me. With such a generous offering placed in front of me, how can I not accept it?

He smiled. “Very well，but bear in mind. Just because you are the Princess’ protégé, doesn’t mean I will go soft on you.”

“I understand.” I nodded.

“Now I will administer the oath. Repeat after me - Upon my honour I do swear undying loyalty to the Empress, Princess Celestia and unwavering obedience to the officers of her great Empire. May those above me judge me, and those below take me, if I fail in my duty. Long Live the Empress! Long Live the Empire!”

I repeated after him seriously.

“Alright, Striker, get him prepared, drills starts tomorrow.”

“Yes sir.” He responded the Captain’s orders with a very respectful tone. 

Striker then swayed his head, signalling me to head out with him. In the upcoming evening, I acquired my uniform, combat outfit, knew about the basic layout of the base and everything else I should know. 

The last thing that I did that night, was to pick a weapon. I looked around the armoury Striker led me into, and there were all kinds of firearms and melee weapons. 

“Pick anything you want except for sniper rifles and pistols.”

I wandered around and inspected every single type of rifles, and I ended up having my mind split on two assault rifles, an SA80 and a XM8.

As I placed them on the table, Striker just grabbed the XM8 and set it back on the rack. 

Hence, my rifle was set, the 5.56 mm bullpup rifle SA80, with a holographic sight and under-barrel grenade launcher.

-

So comes the next morning. I was the first in my barrack to wake up. Technically, I didn’t sleep at all, as I was very tensed and anxious about the next day.

In the morning we marched, and then we did obstacle course, then target practice, physical training and flying training. Later we do range practice, more flying practice and also get yelled at by the Drill Sergeant. Captain Windspear led the most elite team in the the entire Royal Air Force, and I was pushed to the very limit to fit in. 

These days last for a good 3 or 4 months, everyday waking up to the exact same training rhythm. Some may think this is repetitive, and I did fall behind everyone at first, but with some extra time and effort, I finally managed to keep up with everyone in the squad.

I am now finally, Private Eclipse, also known as “the Rookie” among the team.

-

A whole year had pasted since I first enlisted.

“This bastard is in our squad?”

“He better not try and pick a fight with us again.”

“Try holding your rifle and not your dick.”

“New boy thinks he’s special because the Princess talked to him.”

“AHH!” I screamed, as I was waken up by those words that haunted me. It was definitely not pleasant, and I remember all the words the squad mocked me with. Up till this day I still do not understand what had I done to make them hate me so much. 

I looked around, it was very dark and there weren’t anyone around me, and I was laying in a pit, alone, with my SA80 and an AW Covert Op sniper rifle right next to me.

My panting slowly calmed back down as my brain finally figured out the current situation I was in. 

I was in a special operation training course, and within 1 week I must survive ambushes, the rocky mountains and the harsh environment elements, to travel 250 kilometres to our objective. I climbed out of my pit, and looked around, only to find nothing but darkness and silence.

Suddenly, some fast-paced footsteps came rushing towards me, I raised alert and readied my rifle.

I was about to pull the trigger when a man with a rifle appeared in front of me.

“What the hell, Rookie! Did you just screamed?” He spoke, in a rather low tone.

“Corporal Quasar, oh thank Celestia, I thought it would be an ambush.” I sighed.

“Moron! You just gave away your position.” He murmured.

“I’m sorry, it’s… nevermind.”

“Such a spanner. You’re moving or what?”

“Last 20 kilos. I’ll move when the sun rises.”

“Well then, see you on the other side.”

I wasn’t sure it was a curse or a truthful compliment.

Out of our expectation, another footsteps approached us quickly. No, not one, but a lot!

Within a fraction of a second, Quasar’s arm took a shot!

I instinctively pulled him into my pit and observed carefully, making sure not to make a sound as I watched who were approaching us. My breathe was deep and rapid as I sensed danger.

“Dammit! Check your fire! Friendlies!” Quasar screamed. I quickly pressed my palm on his mouth and a finger on my lips, signalling him to shut up.

“Wait! I don’t think it’s a part of the training…”

“What do you mean…” He gritted his teeth to the pain. 

“They are not bots, or our kind, for that matter.” As my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark surroundings, I could see that a few eagle-lion hybrid creatures moving towards our position.

“Griffons? What are they doing here?” I helped Quasar pull the bullet out from his arm, and grabbed on my SA80 rifle. Quasar grabbed my AW Covert Op sniper rifle with his uninjured arm.

“Hold your fire. Let them pass.” I whispered, while pressing on the rifle in his hands.

We went prone and cautiously crawl out of the pit. I held my breathe as they moved and stepped on the dried leaves laying on the floor. The sound of dried leaves rubbing on the floor adds an intense atmosphere to this situation.

Although I tried to move cautiously, a griffon turned his head, and his flashlight shined right onto my white fur. My iris shrunk from the bright light, and my heart skipped a beat.

In the very second, I rolled to the side and fired towards the griffon from the floor. 3 bullets penetrated him from the chest up. The clear gunshots echoed around the mountain range, and all the other griffons turned around as I got up.

That very intense moment when all the bright white light shined upon me, I jumped towards a bush next to me, and ducked down behind a fallen dead log. They fired my position, which luckily their 7.62mm rounds cannot penetrate the thick log. I dropped my rifle at that moment I got up, since it was too bulky for a critical escape.

I must figure out a way to shut them down before they eventually get me. I tossed out a hand grenade behind me, and after the deafening explosion, I sneaked towards the opposite direction which they were going.

Now that they were peaking at the bush I was in, and I was behind them, I saw Quasar on the next tree. I silently moved towards him, which then we came up with a plan.

I took out my knife, and I waved my hand above my hand to signal him, “Cover me.”

He nodded. He was probably thinking why I didn't have a rifle, but he knew it wasn’t the time to talk.

I moved swiftly and steadily, while Quasar laid on his stomach and lined up a clear shot. As far as we can tell there was 4 enemies within our proximity. 

As the sound of metal meeting flesh was made by the griffon I just stabbed from behind with my knife, a suppressed shot was fired by Quasar and another body hit the floor.

The griffons turned as they heard the noises, and I quickly pulled the pistol from the holster of the griffon I just stabbed, and lined a shot towards one of the griffons.

“Bang!” I pulled the trigger, and the bullet landed right onto one of the griffon’s head. Since my reflexes weren’t fast enough to line up a second shot to the next griffon, he fired towards me.

His bullets landed on his comrade’s dead body, and with the help of his thick vest, the bullet was stopped inside his body. I pushed the body towards him, and at the same second kicked on his rifle’s barrel.

He was staggered by my kick for a split second, but then I saw something reflected light from the end of his barrel. He mounted a bayonet on the rifle! 

He fired a few rounds in front of me, but since we were in close range, I dodged to the side and away from his barrel. He swiped his gun towards me, and I barely blocked it with my arms. He tried to stab me with the bayonet, which I ducked to dodge the sharp blade.

He was wielding an AK-47 assault rifle, which is quite heavy comparing to my modified SA80. As we locked each other’s moves, he suddenly let go of the rifle in his hands and freed a hand and attacked me.

The two natural weapons of a griffon, are their beaks and hands. They hands - more specifically, claws, are razor sharp, like knifes embedded on their hands. He tried to scratch me, which I barely dodged. As he pushed me off, the pistol in my hand flung off.

“Quasar! Do something!” I yelled. I tried to get back up and counter his attack, but he pinned my on the floor. Griffons are mostly opportunists and natural hunters, and they are strong. They won’t let up until their prey lies dead in front of them.

With their strength and their claws’ sharpness, I wouldn’t stand a chance if I do not use anything to my advantage. He tried to strangle me and slit my throat, but then I managed to grab onto his wrists and stopped him. It was a losing battle however, as his strength clearly overpowered me.

Although without a clear kill shot, Quasar managed to fire a round on his back, near his neck. The impact was so great I could feel it vibrate through its body. Although even the .338 Lapua magnum round didn’t take his life, he was staggered by the pain, which I then pushed him to the side and retrieve the pistol.

He tried to turn around, but then my pistol barrel touched his forehead. “Don’t. Move.”

Quasar ran back out, and pushed the sniper rifle barrel’s end on the griffon’s forehead forcefully, “Who sent you?”

He finally stopped moving, “Please! Don’t shoot! I…I was only sent by my nation, I… I…”

Quasar was about to pull the trigger and drive a bullet right through the griffon’s skull, but I stopped him. I smacked him with the pistol in my hand, and knocked him out.

“Phew, thanks for the assist, Corporal. I’d be dead if it wasn’t you.” I breathed out slowly with great relief.

“Dammit, Rookie. Why not kill this bastard?”

“I doubt that they will try to shoot us with real bullets if it was a part of the training. If we kill him, if Captain Windspear didn’t know about the griffons, then we’ll be none the wiser.”

“Fine.” Quasar took out a few zip ties from his backpack and tied the griffon’s claws, legs and wings up, in case he woke up and tried to murder us again.

After I retrieved my SA80 rifle, Quasar decided to move with me together, as to “look after the rookie”. We then proceeded to continue walking towards our destination, with a griffon being dragged on the floor.

Near sunrise, we heard some more distance gunshots, which scared off the sleeping birds to fly away. Quasar and I decided to investigate, as it sounded like it was coming from our 12 o’ clock.

We sprinted for about 500 metres, and we saw a squad of griffons surrounding one of the our men. 

He was moving skilfully behind the boulders and foliage to take cover, while over 10 griffons were firing aggressively towards his position at the same time.

Our previous strategy would not work with such an amount of enemies. However, with some skills and communication, we can join our man in his resistance.

“I’ll call the shots.” Quasar said, as he took out his own firearm from his backpack, an AR-15 assault rifle, which also uses the 5.56mm cartridge.

I reloaded my sniper rifle that he returned me, and kneel down for my shots.

“11 o’ clock, the guy under the boulder!”

“1 o’ clock, the very last guy behind!”

“12 o’ clock, blimey!”

They had detected our existence, and we moved our position, walking towards each other’s opposite direction to give the griffons more than one thing to worry about.

I managed to move towards the boulder, adjacent to our man. With another quick shot, another griffon hit the floor.

I approached him with a quick step, “Sergeant!” I called out as I identified him, Sergeant Major Sky Striker.

“Rookie?”

“What the bloody hell is going on?”

“I have no bloody idea!”

“Contact! 4 o’ clock straight!” We were surrounded by multiple griffons, and some decided to fly up to fire at us, which we barely managed to shoot down before they fired at us. My heart started to pump very fast, and I started firing faster with each round cycling more rapidly.

As we assisted Striker to fight through the waves of enemies, one somehow managed to sneak behind me and Striker, and we didn’t notice at first. 

I was too focused in shooting the griffons at the front, until I was down to the last bullet in my magazine, and ducked down to reload, that I finally saw the griffon raising his rifle towards Striker, but it was too late for me to engage him.

With no pistols for backup and my sniper rifle empty, the first thought that came to me, forced me to do something that I would most likely regret.

“Striker! Behind you!” I yelled to alert Striker, as I bashed forward to push Striker away from the line of fire, which would have otherwise taken his life. However, in trade of Striker’s life, my left shoulder was hit by the bullet.

Striker turned around immediately and shot the griffon with his pistol as he fell along with my bashing. 

“Sector clear!” Quasar yelled.

I lied on the ground with my hand pressing hard on the wound on my left shoulder, gritting my teeth in pain as blood started flowing out like a stream, covering half my combat suit and the podzol in a patch of deep red colour.

Quasar and Striker quickly moved towards me, and Quasar helped me treat my wound, while Striker stood guard and kept an eye out for any counter-attack. His face was emotionless, and his chest moved fast as he breathed faster.

“Rookie…” He started.

“Yes sergeant?” I replied in a flat tone.

“Thank you for saving me.” No Bullshit, but only simple words came from his lips. It was the first time since we first met, that he had shown me any positive emotion.

“No big deal, Sarge. We are a team, and we take care of our own.” I single-handedly picked up my sniper rifle and reloaded it with a full magazine.

“Let’s get you to the medic.” He said, as he took lead and scouted ahead, while Quasar and I followed, with Quasar dragging the griffon I knocked out.

-  
The sun had already risen and a new day have began. We finally left the tree-dense area to a flat land, which we flew straight towards our objective.

“Striker? I thought you’d be the fast to arrive? You came in last this time.” Captain Windspear and the rest of the team was already waiting for the three of us.

“It was a long story, we’ll explain later on. Get Eclipse to the medic first, he had been shot.” Striker promptly replied, and with that 2 military medics had already reached me and help me take the bullet out from my flesh, and closed the wound with stitches.

It was the first time, Sergeant Major Sky Striker, called my name. Not “Moron”, not “Rookie”, not “spanner”, but my actual name, Eclipse.

Around noon, we had already been extracted by the convoy, including the griffon we had tied up.

“So what exactly happened?”

“I woke up in the middle of the night, and Corporal Quasar reached me, but then around 5 armed griffons surprise attacked us. We managed to eliminate all hostiles and later on we saw Striker being heavily surrounded by griffons. We also managed to neutralise all hostiles, but I was shot as I pushed Sergeant Striker away from a deadly shot.” I explained in details.

“Wait, I thought this was a part of the training?” Striker seemed confused.

The Captain simply shook his head. We were all shocked by his reaction.

“Whoever they are, militia or actual hostiles, requires further investigation before we can make conclusion.”

-

Meanwhile, at Griffonstone Empire.

“Blyat! What do you mean they’re all dead?” A griffon in a black bullet proof vest growled angrily, and pointed his revolver at a soldier.

“Calm down, Granite.” Another griffon in a robe spoke. “It is all going by plan.”

“What is it again, Krossair? Those cyka blyat shot my soldiers.” Granite placed his revolver back in his holster.

“Then we’ll have an excuse for declaring war towards those cowards.” Krossair said as he fiddled with his gold-plated tiger strip Desert Eagle pistol.”

“Izvini. (Sorry)”

“Prepare your battalion and agents, Granite. We are going to tear shit up!” Krossair laughed loudly in an evil tone.

“So what about Obsidian?” 

“She’ll be back with you, after this invasion.” He smirked.

“She better is, debil.” 

-  
3 days after the incident.

Krossair sent an ultimatum to Equestria’s Embassy of Griffonstone Empire.

A man that started a massacre at an embassy of his own Empire, sent his warnings towards his Empire’s embassy.

In his ultimatum, he stated five clear demands:

\- All Royal Air Force soldiers involved in the killing of the Empire’s soldiers must be sent towards the Griffonstone Empire to be tried for their actions.

\- Equestria’s authorities must broadcast a public apology for the killing in the incident.

\- Equestria must allow Griffonstone Empire officials to establish checkpoints and military bases in the territory, in order to prevent future conflicts.

\- Equestria must suppress all propaganda against the Griffonstone Empire.

\- The commander of the operation, Captain Aviator Windspear and Sergeant Major Sky Striker must be dismissed and face public execution immediately.

All of the above demands must be met within a week, or military actions will be taken.

“This guy really needs to work on his negotiation skills.” Captain Windspear tossed the copy of the ultimatum on the desk.

“He included the national anthem in his transmission. How caring and thoughtful.” The Princess looked at the digital files.

“You aren’t planning to play that to the entire nation, are you Your Highness?”

“Of course not, my loyal Captain. And I do not plan to comply his absurd demands.”

“So what would you advise, Your Highness?”

The Princess made a gesture, and a Royal Guard in a shiny gold armour walked towards her and handed her a thick box file.

She slid the file on the table towards the Captain.

On the file wrote a line in thick marker pen, in both our language and the griffon’s language.

“Equestrian-Gryphon Treaty of Peace, Trading and Cooperation”

“Remember this, Captain?”

“This was signed almost 17 years ago, Your Highness. I was only a First Sergeant back then. I think Colonel Strider attended the Saint Boris Peace Conference with you.”

“Yes. But King Boris II’s regime was overthrown but present day absolute monarch King Krossair Zaslavsky 7 years after the treaty was signed. We thought the treaty remains valid, but look what happened.”

“Griffonstone Empire already annexed 5 minor nations in the 10 years he is in charge of the Empire.”

“Looks like that we’ll have to stop him before he launches his genocide policy towards us. Who’s your best soldier?”

“Special Air Service Regiment, First Lieutenant Eclipse, Your Highness. I’ve promoted him to the officer ranks as you requested.”

“Get him. We’ll need him.”

“I thought you ordered him to join the Royal Air Force?”

“Captain.” The Princess took a deep breathe before continuing. “He’s not a typical man we find on the streets.”

“I know. A single man to fight off an entire squad of our finest warriors.”

“I’m sure you have heard of the Siege of Crystal Empire that took place roughly 5 centuries ago.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“King Sombra the tyrant, as you now recognise as, was defeated that time. Apparently his banishment in the Crystal Mountain’s Peak wasn’t able to stop him. Eclipse was one of the fragments of his soul left.”

The Captain went silent for a moment. “I don’t really mind anyone’s background. So long as they get the job done, they stay.”

“We stopped his evilness by magic, but now it’s time to utilise this valuable asset we have to prevent war.”

“What are his orders, Your Highness?”

“Infiltrate and gather information and evidence from the Embassy in the Griffonstone Empire. As far as we know the embassy has lost contact with us, but we did have actionable intelligence that they held information about Krossair’s plans.”

“Roger that.”


	3. Contingency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Fall Mountains Incident, Eclipse was given the task to infiltrate the Equestrian Embassy in the Griffonstone Empire to collect intel. The Griffonstone Empire carried out a massacre in the Embassy, which Eclipse witnessed the bloody rooms of the building. Upon exfiltration, shots were fired, which marked the beginning of the war.

After my sniper training, I successfully joined the special forces which was also led by Captain Windspear, but I didn’t stop there. Under Captain Windspear’s recommendation, I took the Warrant Officer course, in which I passed with flying colours, and earned my new title as the Second Lieutenant.

This day, I headed back to my barrack, in which everyone in my squad was present. 

I opened the door and headed back in, actually to pack my things, as I now have a separate office and dorm.

“Staff Sergeant.” I greeted the man in charge of the room, Staff Sergeant Sky Striker.

“Good afternoon, sir.” He saluted me.

The Striker as I know, used to dislike me a lot, but he had great respect to his commanders and those with a greater title. My squad that for whatever reason hated me before, also 

“Come on, Striker, I told you we are friends, you need not be so sophisticated.” I smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“You’re the man now, Lieutenant. I’m no longer in charge. From now on you’re our leader.” He smiled.

“Eclipse! My brother!” It was Corporal Quasar, surprised to see me in a new set of officer uniform.

“Haha, I’ll miss you all not sleeping with me in the same room! Do feel free to pay me a visit when you have time.” I chuckled.

“Second Lieutenant Eclipse, please report to Captain Windspear’s office immediately.” The central announcement called me.

“Well, gotta go, I’ll see ya all later!” I bid my squad goodbye, and quickly head to the Captain’s Office.

Upon entering, I saw the Captain and Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia, inside the office looking at me.

I saluted, “Uhh… What’s going on?”

“Come in, and remember to close the door.” The Captain commanded, and so I followed. The room was a bit dark with the curtains shut.

“We have new information about the griffons, those who attacked your squad during the training.” The Princess spoke.

“However, our undercover agent at the Griffonstone Empire Embassy was secretly assassinated. He only managed to send us a very brief message about the information he got, which is held deep in the embassy.” Captain Windspear said, as he pointed at a picture of a soldier with the words “KIA” written on it.

“So, what do we do?” I was quite confused, as to why they needed to make it so mysterious.

“Eclipse.” Windspear started seriously, “We need you to infiltrate the Embassy and retrieve the intelligence.”

“What? Me? Alone?” I took a step back, as Captain Windspear never handed me such a great task, in which if I failed could mean a total war between the two empires.

“Are you up for the task?” He asked seriously.

I hesitated for a brief moment before answering with determination, “I’m in.”

“Very well. You will be deployed tomorrow at 1800. Try not to kill anyone on your way there. It might take days to reach your destination from the drop point at the harbour. Those griffons are spreading genocide ideologies around the Empire, so try not be seen. Head inside the Embassy, take the documents and download the data on the computer there and exfiltrate the AO. There will be a fishing boat at a shipping terminal 150 kilometres south from your AO, which will pick you up within 8 hours you called in the boat.” He explained with the finest details.

“Alright, I can handle that.”

“Very well then. I guess you should spend some time with your squad before the operation, maybe hit the pub, just please don't get wasted.” He joked.

“Very funny, Captain. Very funny.” I laughed sarcastically.

“And beware, Lieutenant. Last time in the training, those griffons that you shot and interrogated, Griffonstone won’t just let that go.”

“How about the one tied up and interrogated?”

“Executed. I would rather not have one enemy alive to leak everything we know to them.”

“Fair enough.”

-

For the upcoming 24 hours, I never told my squad about my mission. With a great chance of not returning to my homeland, I knew this is my first mission as a lieutenant, and might be my last as a soldier.

I boarded a ship at a bay near the big city Manehatten, which took me west, straight towards the Griffonstone Empire. After I get on shore, I would be on my own.

Proceeding towards the embassy wasn’t very difficult, just half a night of walking and driving and I was there. However, getting in the embassy, was quite a pain.

-

I carefully observed the surroundings in a hedge outside of the embassy. There were a few griffons guarding in different position. I didn’t have much weapons with me but an unsuppressed pistol a combat knife.

I located a back door around 20 metres in front of me, which was guarded by a griffon. With a stone throw I managed to lure him to the bushes. I dashed forward and jabbed my knife deep into his throat, his blood spewing on my shirt. He dropped dead from my blade, and I hid his body in an open sewer, after I took his kevlar vest, AK-47, and his keys.

I sneaked into the embassy and locked the door again. There wasn’t many people inside the embassy, not much people alive, for that matter.

I got into the main reception lobby. Everything seemed to be falling apart in here, and there were bullet holes everywhere. I switched on my flashlight, as there wasn’t a single light on, and I could only barely see the surrounding with the weak moonlight from the outside.

“There sure was an intense gunfight.” I muttered. Seeing my own kind’s bodies covered in bullet holes, and puddles of blood already dried on the wall and floor, made me shivered a little.

I continued proceeding inwards to the server room for the information I was looking for. On my way, I had to actively seek and avoid patrols. 

As a two man patrol team walked down the hallway I was in, I quickly leaped over some ammo crates and random junk they placed there. I raised the rifle I scavenged and prepared to engage if necessary. 

“Help… help me…” A faint whisper like voice spoken next to me. Upon closer inspection it was an ally, who I thought was dead, leaning on the wall, panting. He neck had been slit open, and thick, half-coagulated blood flowed down his neck onto his hand and shirt, creating a bloody mess.

I covered his mouth in order to shut him up. The last thing I need was to be spotted and gunned down. I held my breathe as they neared.

“You found anything?” One of the guards spoke.

“All dead, I’d say.” Another guard replied.

“Mmm…” That guy next to me made some disgusting noise in pain. My heart skipped a beat as their flashlight shined down onto him. I pulled my hand away from him before they can see my hand.

“Debil! He’s alive!” One of them spoke loudly.

Right after his voice, all I heard was gun shots from 2 rifles spraying down right next to me, all the bullets landing onto the poor guys head, shoulders and chest.

“Holy mother of god…” I said to myself in my mind as I witnessed this guy become a bullet cushion.

They emptied their rifles entirely onto the poor guy before leaving with an evil laughter. I looked over to the guy next to me again, and his top body was almost just liquidated. It was a mushy mess of blood and flesh, and I could see his brain from his broken skull.

“This is gonna haunt my dreams forever. For sure.” I looked away. My ear was still ringing from the gunshots at close proximity.

“Rest in peace, brother. I will help you take revenge.” I spoke to myself again.

After a turn and 2 floors up the embassy, I arrived at the 2/F, where the server room is located. I headed to the end of the hallway, to a bunker style safe door.

The door is locked shut. On the wall adjacent to the door was a control box, on it is a password pad and a key card reader.

“Brilliant, Captain didn’t give me the passcode.” I checked my phone and radio. No usable signal from Central Command at Equestria could be received from the embassy. Apparently they had signal scramblers on all around the embassy area.

The only notification I received before I entered the territory of Griffonstone was from the Captain:

Lt. Eclipse,

The mission must be completed under any circumstances. We have active intelligence of the griffons planning to launch a total invasion at Equestria. The data must be retrieved.

Cpt. A. Windspear.

I then realise - I can’t enter even if I have the passcode, the power is out.

Well, shucks. 

“Well that leaves me with one option.” I hesitated for a moment. The plan I just came up with was insanely dangerous. And once I executed it, there is no turning back.

What my plan was you asked?

I flipped my scavenged AK47 over, and checked the GP-25 under-barrel grenade launcher. In an enclosed environment of total silence, one explosion could attract quite some attention, but as long as the hallway is enclosed, the explosion should only be heard within the building.

My main concern would be the atrium. Even the dumbest griffon with the dullest senses could see a million glass come shattering and showering down on the floor.

The only reason I would ever think blowing up the door is a good idea, is because the server is still active. It runs on an off grid UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), which is basically a very, very big battery.

“Alright, here we go.” I breathed out a long breathe of air, before launching the grenade from 15 metres away of the door. I closed my eyes as I pulled the trigger, and the grenade made its way to the target. 

A deafening explosion later, the door was curved up badly, and formed a massive hole in the middle. Flames could be seen around the door on the aesthetic decorative plants. 

My ears went ringing again from the echo of the explosion. Although I can’t hear it, I was very certain that caught the guards’ attention.

I ran inside quickly and inspected the servers. All are still online but the UPS is about to run dry. I plugged in the laptop and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) to the server and granted access to the server and started to pour in all the data I can get my hands on into the DSL.

“They should’ve upgraded to a gigabit network…” I groaned to the download speed. My hearing slowly returned to normal, and I could hear footsteps rushing up towards my position. I checked around the room, and took a briefcase full of paper work. 

“Поймать шпиона! (Catch the spy!)” I didn’t understand what that meant but it was surely not friendly.

I peeked from the door and saw them running towards me, meanwhile firing their rifles at me.

“Here we go.” I ducked behind at server rack, and returned fire under the rack’s cover. The sound of gunshots echoed through the entire 2/F. 

I looked over to the laptop on the table near the servers. The transmission was terminated, since the UPS finally died.

“Okay crap. Better get out of here.” I activated the transponder to call in the boat for evac. I retrieved the DSL module and my laptop. 

Now comes the hard part - fighting my way out alive. 

“Не позволяйте побегу шпионить! (Don’t let the spy escape!)” I heard more communication from their radio. 

They were surely calling in reinforcements, and I need to get out fast. I rushed out of the hallway to the outer walkway, inside the atrium.

Underneath me, were enemy reinforcements raising their guns towards me.

The bullets flew towards the walkway like swarms of bees, puncturing the floor plate and the glass panels. I hugged the wall as I ran through the walkway while bullets flew upwards from below.

I stretched my wing and with my gun raised towards the glass screen wall, a thick layer of glass shrapnels rained down on the griffons. It blinded them for some moments and made them cease fire.

Seizing the opportunity, I flew up through the atrium’s supporting beams, and I managed to loose them.

They tried to chase me , but I landed into the thick forest, which made me basically invisible from their blanket search. It was intense, but at least I got rid of some of them, which went the other directions to search for me.

Manoeuvring through the forest was quite easy, as I headed straight towards the target harbour. After I reached the end of the forest, the sun had already risen.

I realised a problem - They were already well aware of my existence within their territory. Which means, they would be shutting down harbours and airports right away. I must hurry before my only point of exfiltration gets shut down, and I become stranded on the island Kingdom.

I flew straight towards the town harbour. It was a well-developed area, with an advanced container terminal. Dozens of super sized oil tankers and container behemoths stop by the terminal daily. Although being a busy place full of griffons, it is the only port in the entire empire open to all other regions, including Equestria.

I reached a parking station full of container vehicles, which I hid under one of them. I checked my transponder, which finally received a message.

The message was sent almost 5 hours ago, 3 hours after I activated my transponder.

“Lt. Eclipse,

Your existence in your AO has been detected. Reach the terminal ASAP.

Exfil. Team Cmdr. Cpl. Quasar.”

I looked out from the vehicle, all the ships were heavily guarded with armed personnel. 

I moved towards a storage warehouse without being detected, and located the fishing boat. Around 20 griffons armed to the teeth was surrounding the boat, with two of the exfiltration team member standing on the dock next to them.

I tried my radio, “Exfil team, this is Eclipse. Do you copy, over?”

After a few seconds of silence came a response, “Eclipse, this is Exfil Team Commander Quasar. Two of our team members are held up by griffon guards. Do not proceed to the boat, standby for command, over.”

With the number of griffon guards, we were not going to shoot that through. 

“Captain Windspear, this is Lieutenant Eclipse. I have acquired the intelligence but two of our men are held up by enemy squad. Please advise, over.”

“Eclipse this is Windspear. We are scanning the area, standby for update, over.”

That was a very intense moment, as my allies were being held at gunpoint, and I could do nothing.

“Hurry up dammit…” I muttered as I aimed down my sights, watching anxiously. My breathe got heavier and heavier with every second passing.

“Captain, this is Quasar. The griffons opened fired, Private Summer is KIA, over.”

I held my scavenged rifle tight, as I took aim at the griffons, ready to gun them down once command said so.

“Exfil team, enemy hostility confirmed, fire at will!”

“That’s it! Open fire! Open fire!”

“Smoke ‘em!”

A lot of radio chatter noise came through, and I could see guns blazing at the dock. I fired at the enemies from the warehouse. Sirens started blasting annoying alert noises all around the terminal.

Within a minute, the entire terminal became a battlefield. All the griffons started spraying bullets at us. 

I sprinted towards the boat, and the bullets went flying towards me as if they were alive, hitting the ground and on the boat around me.

I felt a sudden pain on my right arm, which made me drop my rifle. A bullet struck my arm as I moved towards the boat. I didn’t hesitate and pulled my pistol from the holster with my left hand.

I returned fire as they continued to gun us down. The sounds of rifle firing could be heard non-stopped everywhere around the terminal.

“Get on the boat!” An exfiltration team member pulled me up onto the boat, while the others’ rifles never stopped firing. “Start the engine, let’s haul ass!”

“Enemy rockets!” I looked back to the intense gun fight out there, and a griffon standing behind a riot shield raised an AT-4 rocket launcher and took aim at us.

Our 5.56 mm and 7.62mm bullets just won’t go through those shields. I opened a door in front of me into the boat and ran back out with the most familiar weapon of mine, a sniper rifle.

Neglecting the pain coming from my bleeding arm, I plunged back down to the ground. Using the boat’s body as cover, I took aim towards the rocket launcher wielding griffon and pulled the trigger. I tried to aim at his exposed and vulnerable claw, but he was a split second faster as he pulled the trigger. I managed to hit him right as he fired his rocket, but at the wrong direction.

The rocket hit a container lifting crane, and it snapped in half from the explosion. It started to bend further and further towards us, and it eventually collapsed.

The crane hit a container vessel next to our boat, and was fortunately stopped before crushing on our heads. The boat was slightly damaged from the crane that scratched the top of our boat.

“Hope the antenna still works!” The sailor inside laughed as he finally pushed the throttle and make the boat go forward. Just as we though we were safe, multiple towboats started to tail behind us.

“Oh boy, this is bad.” I ducked down as machine guns started to dot the boat into a beehive. 

“The ship won’t last long like that!”

The high caliber machine gun rounds were able to penetrate the boat, which caused a lot of the exfiltration team members injuries . We were already quite some distance from their coast, but they were still on our tail.

I rushed into the boat with all the alive squad members. The only gun I could get my hands on was another sniper rifle.

I climbed up to the top deck of the boat with this heavy Beretta M107 .50 caliber rifle, and started to return fire.

One shot, one hole on the ship. My rifle maybe powerful, but it was no match against 5 machine guns shooting the same bullet at once.

“Boat’s going down!” The boat eventually started to bank as it finally couldn’t take it, and waters started to rush into the body of the boat. The boat came to a halt, and the towboats started to surround us, and one was coming in very close as they attempted to board and kill all of us.

In this situation, we were basically screwed.

My rifle made a click sound as I pulled the trigger. The magazine was empty.

Time seemed to slow down at that instinct.

Is this the end already?

I closed my eyes, with all I could hear were screaming and gunshots. 

But then, I heard some rumbling noises.

Closing in very fast!

“Kept you waiting, huh?” A friendly voice came from the radio.

My eyes snapped back open quickly. On the blue sky above us, came 2 black shadows soaring towards us. Along with it’s rumbling noise, I could hear missiles firing and gatling guns spinning up and spewing bullets towards the towboats.

“Haha! Taste your own medicine, losers!” I cheered, as our salvation had arrived.

A lightweight Navy vessel also came into the scene from the east. The towboats were destroyed into smithereens while the hunters now became the hunted.

A full minute has passed since the Royal Navy arrived on scene, and all threats were neutralised. The boat was half submerged into the sea as the vessel finally came to pick us up. I assisted those with more severe injuries board first, and I boarded the vessel the last. 

As I finally hopped on, the boat had completely sunken into the depths of the deep blue sea. One of the attack helicopter landed on the vessel while the other stayed in the air to scout for a counter-attack.

A medical team treated the injured members’ gunshots and other wounds. All I needed was to take the bullet out and wrap some bandages. After confirming no one is chasing us way back to Equestria, we set sail back home.

It was quite an operation, wasn’t it?

-

“Sir, Captain’s on the line.” A private walked into the medical chamber, notifying me.

“Roger that.” I got up and reached the command centre of the vessel. All the controls and communications of the vessel gathers here. If the engine is a vessel’s pumping heart, the command centre would be it’s working brain.

I entered the command centre, and right as I entered I could already see a video call online with Captain Windspear. 

“Captain.” I greeted him.

“Damn it Lieutenant! I clearly remember saying not to engage them!”

“I do have the intel. And you told me to get them no matter what.”

“Fine. This is going to end badly…”

“How about the griffons? Any chance of negotiation from foreign affairs?”

“No idea. We’ll see what we can do later.”

The call was then ended. 

I had a sudden jolt of fear and anxiety.

Had I started a war?

But the griffons trespassed first?

My fingers were buried under my hair on my scalp as my mind was being filled with questions.


	4. Battle of the Crystal Mountains

“We couldn’t just ignore their spying activities.”

“They are surely going to declare war on us. It was their leader’s extreme foreign expansionist policy. They are planning for an all-in total invasion against Equestria.”

I sat at my office that day, listening to the entire recording from our allies that I downloaded from the embassy. I was on command of the Air Force that day as Windspear headed to Canterlot for an emergency meeting. 

Our Kingdom’s relationship with the Griffonstone Empire was in a crisis. My operation was eventually investigated by the griffons, and is now creating tension between the two powerful nations on this planet.

“Sir! I have urgent news to report!” Staff Sergeant Sky Striker almost busted down my door, as he panted and handed me a file. 

“Calm down Staff Sergeant. I’ll take a look.” I opened the file, which is an emergency transmission from an Air Force Base at the Crystal mountains, north to our position. 

“What the heck! Get Captain on the line, and get all combat personnel on guard. Alpha and Bravo Squad on the birds now, we’re moving out!”

“Roger!” He responded and rushed outside again. Within a minute the base went full alert, and two squads went combat-ready. 

My computer received an incoming transmission.

“Lieutenant! What the hell is going on?”

“The griffons launched a surprise attack on Base Cryo, we’re going there to assist them!”

“What?! They never officially declared war on us!”

“Screw it! I’m not sitting here and have the entire base up there being sieged through my those savages!”

“Alright calm down Lieutenant. I’m heading over to assist. Rendezvous in mid air in the AO!”

I picked up my rifle from the rifle rack behind me, and rushed out to meet up with the squad. We boarded on a few choppers. We promptly took off towards the Air Force base.

Our plan was to fly out from the top of the base and land inside the base to assist in defending the base. With 15 minutes of travel time, the base was already in sight.

However, a blizzard was brewing up in the area. Within minutes viewing distance dropped significantly, and we could barely see 10 metres ahead of us. Our chopper do have low visibility navigation system to fly us there, but the wind was also picking up, causing the choppers to go unstable.

Meanwhile, a figure landing in front of us into the chopper. 

“So what is the plan here, Lieutenant?”

“Thank Celestia you are here Captain.” 

“No time for a warm welcome. They have got to be stopped!”

“2 minutes to drop point!” The pilot announced.

“So here’s a plan. Stay together as we land, and fire at will!” The Captain suggested.

“Your call then!” I agreed.

“We’re reaching the bingo point! Jump now or no one is going home tonight!” The pilot announced again, and we all jumped out of the chopper and popped our wing open to slow our descend. 

“Should have packed a jacket with me.” I could feel as if the wind and snow are freezing up my entire body. Every time I inhaled, snow flakes flew straight into my lungs.

We formed a circle as we descended, with me right next to the Captain.

“The wind is unbearable!” 

Our members tried to resist the wind from tearing our formation apart, but we were eventually out-powered by the winds and we got flung off, one man at a time.

“Regroup on the ground! We’ll improvise if we have to!” The Captain commanded through the radio.

It was only me and the Captain left drifting in the wild winds, until we eventually hit the ground.

I landed on the thick snow facing downwards. A little banged up, but I was alright. I then got up to look for Captain Windspear, which I found him on the ground next to me.

In the wild winds, he was slammed straight towards the group on his legs. He was alive and still alright, but his legs was broken for sure.

“Captain! You alright?!”

“Yeah, I can hold myself off.” He tried to get up, but he couldn’t.

“Sorry Lieutenant, but I guess you’ll have to carry me to the extraction point later. Just set me down somewhere that I can provide cover for you.” He held his personal Mark 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle with a long range scope.

“Alpha Squad! Bravo Squad! Do you copy, over?”

I tried to communicate with the team members that we were separated with in mid air.

A voice, along with heavy static noises and wind noises, responded, “This is Staff Sergeant Sky Striker, I read you.”

“Striker, this is Eclipse. Do you have the squad with you?”

“Yes sir, but we are combat ineffective here. Multiple Squad members wounded, and the personnel of this base ain’t holding up well. 2 soldiers KIA.”

“Copy that Striker. We will come over and assist you ASAP, just hold tight.”

I lifted Captain WIndspear up and carried him on my shoulders. As we proceeded towards the command building at the north of the compound. All I could see were things on fire, and the thick snowstorm in front of me.

‘Contact 11 o’ clock!” Windspear warned me. I dropped him down on the ground and lifted my rifle to engage the incoming infantry.

No one would dare to fly in this blizzard as the winds were so strong. I pulled Windspear behind a Jeep as we engaged enemy infantry behind cover. We were seriously outnumbered and our only advantage is the cover from the low-visibility blizzard.

Soon I could hear gunshots echoing in the mountain range everywhere, and muzzle flairs flashing in front of us. I held my trigger down and let my SA80 rifle send bullets flying towards them. 

I was basically firing blindly since I couldn’t see any actually figures but muzzle flashes. Windspear however, hit a target every single shot. One shot, one kill. 

It was as if he could see through the thick layer of snow. And with mostly Windspear’s effort, the area in front of us was cleared. I guess he really was a true master marksman.

“Impressive, old man.” I complimented as I carried him up on my back again, holding him up with my right arm and scouted with a USP pistol in my left hand.

“Just some combat experiences, some aid from my thermal scope, and some luck of them not hitting me.” He chuckled.

I set him down again as I checked ahead. “Friendlies?” I aimed at the direction I spoke to, as to engage any incoming threat if they happened to be hostile.

“Lieutenant, sir?”

“Affirmative.” I proceeded forward, and dragged Windspear along with me. It was quite a relief to see a friendly face in a clustered battleground.

In front of me, stood two soldiers from my squad. One is Sky Striker, one is Quasar. Striker was heavily injured, being shot in multiple parts of his body and bleeding all over the place, but he showed no emotion of pain whatsoever.

“Sergeant! What’s going on!” 

“The Squad is KIA, and more of them are coming!”

“Bollocks! Down!” He suddenly pulled me down and pushed me onto floor. Half a second later, a rocket flew straight above us and exploded as it hit the building behind us. He laid down right next to me as pieces of debris and shrapnel scattered everywhere.

I got up right after the noise of flying debris impacting stopped, and Quasar laid right in front of Striker motionlessly. A few pieces of metal jabbed into my arm, but it wasn’t lethal.

I heard Striker coughing vigorously, which I then looked at him. There were traces of blood around his lips as he coughed out a puddle of blood onto the floor.

“Striker…” I looked over at his back. Chunks of metal and fragments stabbed deeply onto his back, with blood covering all over them. He blocked most of the shrapnel from me with his own body.

“I owed you this, Rookie.” He was referring back when I took a bullet for him in the mountains during the training.

“No! You owe me nothing, Striker! Come on! I’ll get you back home!” I started to scream loudly.

I tried to pull a shrapnel out from his flesh, but it only worsened his bleeding.

He face showed no signal of pain. Instead, he smiled.

“You are a great soldier, Eclipse. I’m sorry.” He voices was trembly and weak, and his eyes started to twitch.

“Sky Striker! I command you to stay alive! You will make it home tonight!” I was starting to lose my mind as my best teammates slowly died in my arms.

“Cannot be down, Lieutenant. I’m sorry.” He closed his eyes and his body went limp. I placed a finger on his neck near his aorta, which no longer pulses.

I was so enraged that I couldn’t cry or react. Quasar died instantly in the blast, and now Striker is dead as well.

“Damn griffons! I will kill all of you!” I screamed with all my strength. I took one of my late teammates M249 light machine gun, and started to spray though the snow in front of me at the griffons.

“Lieutenant!” Captain Windspear yelled.

I ignored, as I had already vowed to avenge my squads death. I continued to scream like a mad man.

“Stop it Lieutenant! Cease fire! They’re all dead already!” The griffons were already dead, but I had not cease fire until my gun ran out of ammunition.

I screamed out with the top of my lungs, and I collapsed on the floor again. 

-

A minute had passed. 

The mountain range was quiet.

The storm started to calm.

“Lieutenant…” Windspear crawled towards me. “Your eyes…”

I couldn’t feel anything. My arm was bleeding, but I couldn’t feel pain from my arm.

The pain of wounds on your physical body, is no match with the pain of your best partners’ decease.

A strange and unfamiliar voice echoed from somewhere.

“Spread out and search for survivors!” A deep male voice commanded from the distance.

Footsteps could be heard everywhere. 

I got back up and look forward. Apart from the bodies of griffons, silhouettes of men could be seen searching around. They did looked like our kind.

One of them peeked over the barrier in front of me.

“Woah! Friendlies! Don’t shoot!” I looked at him, as he pointed his crossbow at my face.

“Your Royal Highness!” He looked surprised.

“What?” I was confused.

“Your Majesty! I found him!” He cried. Within moments a figure in some heavy armour walked over here with a blade in his hands.

My vision went a bright white as I looked at him. The next thing I knew, I wasn’t in the mountain range anymore.

The place looked strange. I seemed to be in a room surrounded by stone bricks. 

I had calmed down by now, and it was then I finally felt pain coming from my injured arm.

“Who are you?” I looked over the armoured man, and recoiled backwards. He has a pair of neon blue eyes. Under his chrome silver armour was dark ebony fur, with neon blue stripes covering his body, making him somewhat like a zebra.

He chuckled.

“Do you know why your teammates disliked you so much before?”

I was confused.

“How do you… know…?” I pressed my hand on my pistol.

“Oh, I know everything about you.”

My vision seemed to be overridden by images. 

-

In my vision, I saw myself and my teammates. My eyes was somehow glowing lime green, with trails of purple mist flowing from the frames of my eyes.

“I’m warning you! Back off now!” Sky Striker yelled.

I remained silent, but then started to attack the squad.

I punched one of them, while Quasar fired a taser round at me. I didn’t react to the electric shock but to continue attack.

I swung my fist at Striker, and he quickly dodged my punch. He took a step forward, attempting to strike on my shoulder. I smacked hard on his ribcage, which made him cringe in pain.

I kicked on Quasar, which he recoiled backwards and pushed me along with the kick. I fell on the ground, but then jumped back up again and kicked right onto Quasar’s face.

However, as I stood up, all of them charged at me and finally subdued me. One of them was behind me, and smacked me with his rifle’s stock, knocking me out.

The moment I woke up again with a blurry vision, I heard Striker and Princess Celestia’s voice.

“You’re finally awake. Good.” Celestia said.

“This cheeky bastard was tough.” Striker responded.  
“A pegasus that can cast black magic huh? That is rare.”

“What do you have in mind, Your Highness?”

“Now you, rouge pegasus, what’s your name?”

I remained silent.

“The princess is asking you a question! She demands an answer!” Striker nudged me hard with his rifle stock, but was stopped as Princess Celestia raised her hand. “Let him talk.”

“Eclipse.” I spoke emotionlessly.

“Good.” She smirked.

A yellow sun ray-like magic aura appeared on her glorious horn, with a beam of magic striking on my body. I shivered to the feeling of both being bitten and tickling. The weird eye-glowing effect disappeared from me.

And then, my first ever memory replayed in front of me.

“Eclipse, you are a strong man. We could make great use of men like you in our national defence. You should consider signing up in joining the Royal Air Force.” The white-furred, Princess Celestia told me.

“But Your Royal Highness, he-“ A man in uniform next to me urged.

“Calm, Sergeant. With some magic-control, it would be like taming a wild beast, and a valuable asset in our arsenal.” 

“Sigh… Roger that Your Royal Highness.”  
-

“What the hell…” I was shocked as I watched.

“Yes, Eclipse. You and me are the same kind.” His eyes started glowing like mine did in the vision.

“Wait what?”I didn’t know how to react.

“I am your brother, Eclipse. My name is Nighthawk, the current leader of the Shadow Realm.”

“…”

“I reckon you have studied History?”

“Yes…”

“So you know Tyrant King Sombra the First.”

“The Tyrant that lost the battle in the Crystal Empire a thousand years before and again recently?”

“We are King Sombra… the Second. We are his descendants.”

He passed me a blade, somewhat resembles a Katana, but shorter.

“Sword of the Burnt Secrets.” He spoke.

He stepped aside to reveal a mirror behind him.

I walked over to look at my reflection. My true self was still in my combat attire of the Royal Air Force, but in my reflection, I was in a glorious cape, with light armour plates on my body. My eyes were glowing that strange lime green again.

I looked like… A glorious prince.

The blade in my hand must into flames. A mild purple flame covered the blade, but it was cool to the touch.

“This is what you really are. Not a peasant, unremarkable soldier on the battlefield.”

“So you are… evil?” I wasn’t sure why, but I acted as if I lost my intellect and sounded like an idiot.

“No, no, my brother.” He shook his head, “We were all born evil. Your inner devil was suppressed with force.”

He paused for a second before continuing, “But me, I suppressed my inner demon with my own effort. This world need not another villain to swallow the world.”

I looked at him, as I felt some mysterious forces running inside my body. It felt as if I was in an exhausted state, but then recovered and became powerful again in a short burst.

“What is better? To be born good or to overcome your evil nature through great effort?”

“Indeed.” I nodded.

“The battle still needs you. Best not keep them waiting.” 

My vision went white again, and when my vision returned to normal, I was in the freezing mountain range again.

Sky Striker, still lied dead next to me with the Captain looking at me.

Nothing seemed to have changed since I “left”.   
I looked over the barrier, there stood Nighthawk, who then walked away with the small army he led.

“Command, this is Lieutenant Eclipse. Area secured, call in evac for distaff, over.” I called in evacuation team through the radio.

“Copy that Eclipse, evac on the way, ETA 10 mikes.” Command responded.

I got back up and looked around. Bodies of our allies and enemies were everywhere. Blood on the ground started flowing into a long stream, until it was eventually frozen up from the cold mountain range winds.

“All stations, this is Lieutenant Eclipse. Radio check, over.” I tried to contact any survivors in the AO.

“Eclipse is this Bravo 1-3, we got you loud and clear. 5 men KIA, and multiple wounded.” Only one respond made it through. 

The entire Alpha Squad was KIA, except for me and the Captain.

-

A few choppers arrived from the Crystal Empire. The medics quickly rushed out of the chopper upon touchdown. I moved my teammates’ remains near the chopper, as well as getting the Captain onto the chopper.

I lowered my late teammates into the body bags one by one, with Corporal Quasar and Staff Sergeant Sky Striker placed in the last. After paying my greatest respect, I handed them to the evac team, when were then loaded onto the aircraft.

I looked around the now visible base. Multiple vehicles were destroyed, as well as heavily damaged buildings. I tried to find Nighthawk again, but he seemed to have vanished from the area.

Frustrated, I walked back to the chopper as we were about to leave. 

“Eclipse! Behind you!” The Captain suddenly yelled. I was about to respond and turn around, but it was too late. 

I could only feel pain from my back.

The Captain opened fired at the direction I got shot, and a few soldiers attempted to rush out and take down the shooter, but the Captain halted them.

“Enemy ambush.”

The shooter, was at least a kilometre away from me. The Captain was vigilant enough to spot him, impressive.

My vision started to diminish and blur.

Until at last, I lost my sense. I had fallen into a traumatic shock.


	5. The Injured, the Deceased and The Killer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Battle at the Crystal Mountain, Eclipse was injured, his squad was killed in action, and more conflicts broke out. As Eclipse was granted a new arsenal and Sky Striker's remains returned to his home, Manehatten, a costal city, was under attack by the Griffons. Eclipse's new team was sent to investigate, which they discovered their enemy's true power.

I opened my eyes.

I could still feel the pain on my back.

What happened?

In what seemed to be a dorm, I woke up from my unconsciousness. Next to my bed was my trusty rifle, a set of Royal Air Force Battle Attire, and a Tanto knife in a sheath. 

“So it was real…” I muttered as I held the knife in my hands, unsheathing it. The blade once again burst into purple flames.

Out of my expectation, I heard the door opening. I quickly sheath the demonic blade again. Two men entered my dorm, one appeared to be the doctor, and the other being the Captain, on a wheelchair.

“Oh thank god you’re awake, sir.” The doctor started, “You can call me Doctor Sorrow, that what everyone calls me anyways.”

“Doctor Sorrow.” I greeted him.

“So as you may or may not recall, you were shot in the operation in the Crystal Mountains. You were unconscious for over 20 hours now.”

“So what happened to me, Doctor?” I asked desperately.

“A .50 BMG round fractured your wing bone. We tried to reconnect your wing but the bleeding was severe and the open wound seemed to be burnt as well. Under these circumstances we had no options but to…” He hesitated.

“But to what?”

“I guess it’d be best to find out by yourself.” He opened a palm at me, signalling me to turn around and check. I sat up straight and turned to look on my back. My left wing was covered in blood stains, but still can move freely and flexibly. 

“My right wing however, wasn’t in quite the shape I hoped it’d be. It wasn’t even attached on my body. All I could see on the right side of my back was a small bulge of where my bone used to be, and some heavy bandaging.

My wing had to be amputated due to the severe injury.

“Thank you doctor. I wish to spend some time with him alone.” The Captain spoke.

“Your call, then.” Doctor Sorrow left the dorm.

“Captain, I…” I didn’t knew what I should say to him. Thank you? Apologies? 

“I’m sorry, Lieutenant.”

I looked at him. A man with a higher ranking apologising to his soldiers?

“I should have spotted him earlier. It was my fault for your injury.”

 

“No, Captain… It’s just…” My words stopped at my throat again. Two trails of tears slid down from the Captain’s face.

“Actually… I wasn’t sure if this is a good idea, but I have a solution.”

“Captain…”

“In the classified departments of the Royal Air Force, there was a new technology being developed. Once you recovered, head to the R&D (Research and Development) Department. In it is an artificial wing, built for disabled soldiers to regain the ability to fly.”

“Thank you… Captain…” 

“Also, under this injury, it’d be quite some time before I can pick up my gun again. I’m getting old, Eclipse. I therefore, nominated you as the new man in charge of the Royal Air Force.”

“But Captain, I don’t think I can handle this.”

“Equestria has now officially declared war on the Griffonstone Empire. The soldiers need a commander. Striker is gone, and I must step down from the position now.” He took out his Mark 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle, and passed it to me.

“This rifle, brought me and this nation glorious victory multiple times. And now, you must lead on.” Upon that, I took the rifle and carefully inspected it. It was quite banged up, with lots of

“Roger that, Captain-“ I 

“No, Eclipse. You are the Captain now.” He saluted towards me.

I lost my words as he saluted me. He voluntarily resigned from his position, which just showed me how much he trusted me.

“Oh and, there’s someone that wish to see you.”

“Really? Who?”

He smiled, “Find it out yourself, Captain.” He saluted again, and rolled his wheelchair out.

After a few seconds, a familiar figure entered my ward.

“Good Afternoon, Captain.” She greeted me, with a big warm smile on her beautiful face.

“Oh it’s you… Umm…” It was quite embarrassing to forget names.

She giggled with a blush, “Aerial Security Regiment, Chief Sentinel Lightningbolt.”

“Oh yeah, Miss Lightningbolt.” 

“So it’s been a year, and you’ve already become such a significant person.” 

“Not really, I just tried and did my best.”

“That’s good to know.”

“But now, I’ve got more things to worry. A total war is about to break out, and I still have to uhh… attach a mechanical wing to my back.” 

She held my chin gently, “Don’t worry, Eclipse. I’m sure you’ll be a great Captain.”

I blushed, “Heh, maybe. But actually, why a sudden visit?”

She remained silent for a few seconds, as if to think the question throughly.

“Well, I’ve noticed something special about you since that day. And I can tell that you and me, we can be great friends.”

I highly doubt that was the true answer, but forget it. I’ve got a bigger fish to fry.

“Well, I guess I should let you rest and heal up before the big fight. And if you for whatever reason needs my assistance, our unit is next to your office.” She smiled sweetly, before turning and leaving the ward.

I felt like I had something to tell her, but just couldn’t get the words out.

But wait, I’ve noticed something.

Something very strange.

She has wings like I do, but she… has a horn?

So she can cast magic?

She’s an alicorn?

But this is even weirder, I ain’t got a wing, but I can use magic as well.

What sort of loopy land had I entered?

Sigh… Nevermind. I better take a rest and get my new wing tomorrow. Who knows when will those barbarians strike?

-

The next day, Equestrian Royal Air Force R&D Laboratory.

I showed up in the base again. This time, in a Captain’s uniform.

“Good morning Captain.” The soldiers greeted me, like how they greeted Captain Windspear.

“Good morning Captain. This is the wing. It’s still a prototype, but it is ready for deployment. It can withstand impact of most small arm calibers. The hard light wing flaps can be deployed at will to increase lift, or absorb projectile impact energy.” A scientist showed me the wing and explained the information in detail.

“Does this use any external power?” I was fascinated by the construction of this futuristic looking wing.

“No, it uses the kinetic energy on your flight and movement. It can be recharged with magic, or use other source of atomic energy.”

“Interesting. I assume the hard light barrier uses a lot of energy when deployed?”

“Yes it does, but since it is a closed system, the energy wouldn’t be consumed intensely if nothing with significant energy hits it. Unless you’re a magic user, then your magic can be extracted from your body directly to the wing.”

“Cool. Let’s get it mounted.”

I was led into an operation room which had to hack my back open to install a pivot joint and some other mechanism inside my body. With some anaesthesia applied, it only felt like a slight tickle when they shoved those stuff inside me.

Sounds quite wrong when I depicted it that way.

He then lifted up the red mech wing and locked it onto the pivot joint. The wing locked in firmly, but can still be controlled with ease.

Under his instruction, I tried to move the wing around. After an entire morning of calibration, practice and test flights, I am once again combat ready.

But before I go guns blazing with the griffons, I have one thing to do.

-

Present day evening, small town near Neighagra Falls.

I arrived at the town to visit a family. A family of who used to be my greatest teammate.

I knocked on the door of a small bungalow.

An old man opened the door.

“Mr. Sky.” I greeted.

“Excuse me, who are you?” He asked.

“Your son Striker’s commander.”

“Oh sir! Please, come in.” He walked to the side and opened his arm enthusiastically.

“Thank you, mister.”

I looked around inside the house. It wasn’t very big, or fancy for that matter, but it still looked like a nice cozy place.

“So have you heard about the news?” I cut straight to the chase.

“Yes we have.” 

“Your son was a brave, brave soldier. He saved my life.”

“Yes, we are very round of him.” I can’t believe that they seemed to show no sorrow.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Life and death are destined. He wished to be a soldier, and we support him. We all knew someday, something might happen, and that day… We would know when he doesn’t return home for dinner.” 

I looked at a picture frame on the table. It showed their family, on the day Striker was promoted to Staff Sergeant. I placed down his service medal next to the photo, and passed Striker’s ashes to his father.

Meanwhile, a young man walked out in a Royal Air Force Reserve Regiment uniform. He looked somewhat like Striker, but with red and black mane.

“Sky Lannister reporting for duty sir.” He saluted me.

“What…?” I was confused for a brief moment.

“It was my brother’s wish. If he ever dies, I’ll follow his path.” He spoke in a quite straight forward way.

“So you are?”

“Equestrian Royal Air Force Reserve Regiment, Private Sky Lannister.” He replied.

“Well I do can make the arrangement, as long as you meet the criteria.”

“I am in active duty of the Royal Guards after completing the Air Force training.”

“Very well then.” I passed him an XM8 rifle, which belonged to Striker. 

-

Meanwhile, Somewhere in Celestial Sea.

On a Navy vessel, and a luxurious boat right next to it.

Almost every soldier on the vessel had been shot dead, with a few left barely alive.

Those that didn’t die were tied up, and stood on top of the ship.

One man, with a magnum revolver, interrogates them one by one.

“Please I know nothing, don’t kill me!” One terrified soldier begged.

“Urod, blyat.” The man with the revolver pushed the barrel of his gun right on the soldier’s head, and pulled the trigger.

One loud bang later, the soldier fell on the ground lifelessly, his brains blown out by the bullet with blood pouring from the bullet hole.

“So what now, Krossair?” The man asked. He was Granite.

“I’d say we take over their Navy and start bombarding their coastal cities.” Krossair laughed with a evil tone.

“Haha, good idea…” Granite laughed awkwardly.

“So, tell me my dear Chief Commander. How much land do you want once we killed all those peasants?”

“All, I would say.” Granite chuckled.

“Humorous, Granite.” Krossair laughed again. He took out a gold-plated desert eagle pistol, and fired multiple shots at the incapacitated soldiers. The soldiers screamed in pain, before they all fell on the ground, dead.

“And your life as well, my King…” Granite said under his breathe with an evil grin.

“What was that Grand? Couldn’t quite hear you over the gunshots.” 

“Nothing. I just wanted some vodka.”

“Lazy twat.” He laughed.

-

Three days later, Manehatten city.

Manehatten is a city surrounded entirely by water, and the only way to connect to the continent itself is either by railway on a bridge, or by aircrafts. 

This day, Manehatten was plunged into chaos.

The railway bridge between the continent and the city was destroyed by the invading enemy forces. 

From the horizon, multiple aircrafts quickly approaches the city. 3 few A-10 jets took lead along with 5 more apache attack helicopters, followed by a dozen more transport helicopters and an AC-130 gunship.

The griffons had once again attacked Equestria, and the Equestrians would not stand aside and watch while they burn down their lands.

“All combat personnel ready to drop off at LZ, AC-130 cover fire, Apaches scout and eliminate!” Through the busy radio comes the new Captain’s voice, commanding the battalion for the mission.

The AC-130 started to elevate to cover more ground while the transport helicopters hovered about multiple buildings. All the soldiers quickly got their boots on the ground and spread up.

The mission was carried out by The Air Force, Marines and Army under command of Captain Eclipse, as to counter the massive force of the griffons.

The AC-130 started to fire furiously at the enemy infantries on the ground with its 20mm gatling guns, creating a loud buzz above the Equestrian warriors.

I got on the ground with the soldiers, which I swiftly drew my Mark 14 rifle and moved towards an advantage point to provide overwatch.

The helicopters scouted around and the sound of rotor wings echoed in the battlefield. 

“All Navy stations, this is Captain Eclipse of the Royal Air Force, does anyone copy?” I looked far to the coast of the city, which I spotted 3 Navy vessels, one being a destroyer.

No response from the Navy.

As I was about to set off and investigate, a vigorous shake came beneath me from the building. I lost my balance and rolled onto the ground.

I could feel the building started to tilt to the side, which I then realise the building was struck and was going down.

I hopped back up and flew upwards before the building crashed onto another skyscraper like dominos.

“That’s was too close.” I thought to myself as I promptly left the area.

“This is Phoenix 2-1, we’re hit, we’re going down.” One of the attack helicopters was hit as I proceeded towards the coast. 

“They’ve got anti-aircraft guns!” I heard soldiers yelling thought the radio. I took a look at the footage from the gunship, one of the SAM (surface-to-air-missiles) sites was on top of a building adjacent to the building that just fell.

I commanded the A-10s for gun runs down the streets as I bushed through a window of the target building. I shielded myself with my mech wing upon impact, and with a smooth forward roll I landed gracefully inside an office.

I wished to proceed up the building, but I encountered enemy forces right as I stood back up. I took cover from a solid wall, and I returned fire. The bullets hit the wall I was leaning on, and I could almost feel it vibrating through the wall.

All the training didn’t go to waste. I managed to hit the enemy and they fell one by one. I rushed up the stairs towards the roof, and to my surprise, they were expecting me.

A dozen soldiers were pointing their rifles at me as I stepped out of the door. 

“Drop your weapon!” One of them commanded with a heavy accent.

I gently placed my rifle down, and put my arms up as they stepped closer. My heart raced up to 180 RPM as I felt the tension building up. All aircrafts were busy engaging other targets and the AC-130 was literally at the other side of the city.

One of them shoved their rifle stock on my back, and I fell down. They kicked my rifle to the side out of my reach.

“Hands behind your head!” He commanded again, which I complied.

I could see him raising a pistol and pointing it towards me from the edge of my eye. Upon the life-threatening moment, I activated the hard light barrier of my wing and shielded myself from his bullet. I barrel rolled to the side and pulled out my new weapon, the Sword of the Burnt Secrets.

I drew my tanto out, and time seemed to slow down for me for a slight moment. I took the opportunity and swung my tanto while they started to fire at me.

A loud metal impact sound could be heard as I swung my blade. I managed to slice a bullet in half and deflected it from me.

As an opportunist I dashed forward with a huge leap, and stabbed my purple-flamed tanto deep inside his body. I pulled it out and with another swing I slit one of their throats open, and blood started to spew towards me like a water jet.

I bashed my body towards another soldier while I tossed my tanto at the missile launchers. I punched his face dead on. He kicked on my stomach, which I rolled to the side to dodge. He took the slight breathing room and clawed my arm. Three blood trails appeared on my left arm.

He wiped the blood off his nose. I shook my arm and ignored the pain from my arm. 

“Let me guess. Captain Eclipse, Commander of the Equestria Royal Air Force.” He smirked.

“Never expected to be that famous, but yes I am.” I bowed to him.

“You’ll be dead today.”

“We’ll see.”

With that, he dashed at me again. I dodged to the side, while I tried to grab my tanto that was stuck on the launcher frame.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t quite a master of dark magic, and the telekinesis that I wished to work didn’t do that. With no weapon on hand, I would have to fight this griffon with my bare hands.

“Heh, I haven’t know your name yet, sir.” I tried to distract him.

He stood at the other side of the roof top, as he stared at me. 

“Chief Agent of the Griffonstone Empire, Granite.”

He pulled my tanto out from the launcher frame, and tossed it towards me. The blade landed in front of me, stabbed deep onto the concrete floor. I tried to pull it out from the floor, but it’s stuck like the sword in stone.

How strong is he?

He rushed up at me and slapped my face with his wing, and as I was left hanging defencelessly he punched me in the chin. I flipped backwards and splatted on the ground like a dead fish.

“You’re no match for me, weak man.” He walked towards me slowly as I struggled to get up. He grabbed me on my throat and attempted to strangle me.

I felt like choking as I tried to make him let go, but I’m the kind of soldier that masters on speed and agility, which means I really was no match with his physical strength. 

I started to feel dizzy as I’m slowly running out of oxygen. In the moment, I heard three distinct gunshots, which then he finally let go of me. I dropped to the ground, rubbing my neck as I coughed.

Granite fell on the side as an ally of mine landed next to me, “Captain, you alright?”

It was my new recruit, Sky Lannister.

“Yeah, thanks for the assist.” I responded. I looked over at Granite, who was lying on the ground motionlessly.

“Investigate the Navy vessels. Somethings not right.” I told Lannister while my breathe returned to normal and went to pick my rifle and tanto back up again. With all my strength I finally managed to pull the tanto out from the ground.

-

15 minutes of flying.

We arrived at the coast. The AC-130 was forced to returned to base as they reached the bingo point, which means if they don’t return for refuelling the plane, they would run out of fuel before landing safely in base.

The A-10s were moderately damaged but still intact, while we lost 2 of the Apaches, and 2 were heavily damaged and had to be transported back for repair by chinooks. 

With 2 A-10s patrolling in the air and 1 final helicopter left, we investigated around the Navy vessels.

“Captain this is Phoenix 3-2, all Navy soldiers on board are KIA, over.” 

“Continue looking for survivors, Eclipse out.”

I stood on top of the destroyer and looking backwards at the Manehatten city, which the griffons wreaked havoc upon. Trails of smoke could be seen rising from everywhere. I felt quite lost as I stared at the sight.

The Aerial Security Regiment were doing a great job of evacuating the citizens in the city before the battle broke out. Some were injured, but most of them made it out alive.

“Hey hey, Captain.” I received a transmission through a private frequency band from my radio.

“Who is this?” I asked as I held my breathe from my anxiety.

“You don’t remember me? Too bad. You’re gonna die anyways, hehe.” He laughed. And of course I could tell who that was from his heavy accent. I was just asking as if I don’t know.

“How are you even patching into my feed?”

“How careless of you and your comrade, Captain. You didn’t even bother checking whether your enemy has died. But whatever, you’d be dead anyways.”

“Uhh Captain…” Sky Lannister nudged me as I listened through the radio and had my back facing the sea.

I turned around as he nudged me, and my jaws dropped.

Completely stunned.

“Holy Celestia…”

2 dreadnoughts came sailing right towards us!


	6. Enemy of my Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Granite, one powerful enemy in Eclipse's eyes, decided to betray his own nation to join the Equestrian side. It was a very dark backstory for him, as he wish to seek redemption from his past sins.
> 
> Warning: Rape scene mentioned ahead. Viewer discretion is advised.

“Have you tracked down Granite?” I asked.

“Yes sir, we are pursuing them with a UAV.” Lannister replied.

“Good. We’re heading out.” I said, as I loaded up my rifle and began to walk out of the conference room.

“Actually sir, I have a question to ask.” 

“Go on.” 

“How do you… use magic?”

I froze in place.

“You are not a unicorn.”

“I know.”

“So… how did you do that when we’re in Manehatten yesterday?”

-

1700, Manehatten city, Eastern coast. 

“How careless of you and your comrade, Captain. You didn’t even bother checking whether your enemy has died. But whatever, you’d be dead anyways.” Granite laughed through the radio.

“Uhh Captain…” Sky Lannister nudged me as I listened through the radio and had my back facing the sea.

I turned around as he nudged me, and my jaws dropped.

Completely stunned.

“Holy Celestia…”

2 dreadnoughts with their guns pointing straight at us, came sailing right towards us!

I held my tanto in my sheath. “For the god of darkness’ sake please work this time.” I thought to myself as I stepped forward.

“All station, ready to engage!” I called through the radio, and everyone raised their guns, pointing straight at the dreadnoughts.

I stepped forward and drew my tanto out, which the purple flames started burning again. Purple smoke started flowing from my eyes and time seemed to slowed down once again.

I took a deep breath, as I felt a huge burst of energy exploded from me.

The dreadnoughts began firing towards us. And at the very second.

The projectiles stopped.

In mid air.

I froze them in place!

“Fire at will!” I yelled.

Both of our A-10s, the attack helicopters and all ground troops fired their weapons towards the ships. 

After the guns went buzzing for a solid 10 seconds, I started to feel extremely exhausted, as my energy started to fail. 

“Retreat in land! This won’t hold forever!” I yelled again. The team all promptly ran inland, and after I made sure no one else was on the coast…

I stretched my wing and shielded myself.

The next second, my ears went ringing and my vision went white.

It wasn’t until almost a minute later that my senses returned again.

Two ships in the oceans began burning vigorously and exploded as it slowly sinks to the bottom of the ocean, while the coast was also covered in flames and was a charred black.

“Holy Celestia Captain…” Lannister ran towards me.

I dropped to the ground, and sheathed my tanto while I panted.

-

“One, how did you froze those stuff? Two, how did you not die?” Lannister asked.

“I’m not sure either, I just did it.”

“Scary…” He muttered.

“Cut the chatter, we’ve got a man to capture.”

“Roger that.”

We got on a jeep in a convoy right underneath Cloudsdale, heading towards the intercept point. The intercept point was located 20 kilometres west of Filly Delphia, which was around 300 kilometres south of Manehatten.

We had a gunner on the third car and heavily armed soldiers along the way, with a grand total of 7 cars and 1 helicopter.

We set off at 12 am midnight, planning to intercept Granite’s convoy at the checkpoint near Filly Delphia. It was clear that apart from hard on battles, they had infiltration planned with other people in our nation.

We were driving on full speed along the Central Railway from Canterlot towards the Filly Delphia train station and from there we would stop at the Filly Delphia checkpoint.

And at 5 am, we had reached the checkpoint, just in time. The sun has not risen, but the sky was already lighter in colour and quite brighter.

“Spread out. Get ready on your position, and ready to intercept.” I commanded.

I walked onto a watch tower and ducked down, staying out of sights. I looked at my handheld monitor of the UAV while the team got ready for Granite’s convoy.

And at 6am, the sun had fully risen and I could see the convoy approaching from the bird view.

“Captain, convoy’s arriving, HVI confirmed.” One soldier reported.

“Roger that, get ready to engage, but keep the HVI alive at all cost.” I took out a .50 caliber M82 rifle loaded with armour penetrating rounds and took aim at the engine block of Granite’s jeep. 

Those who watched movies and shows might thought shooting an engine block of a car would make it explode, but it simply not true. All I wish to do was to stall out the engine of his jeep, avoid him from escaping.

I was wearing my modified officer outfit. I might be wearing a shirt and peacoat, but they were all modified to be fire retardant and bullet resistant, and basically cut proof. Thanks to the R&D department, this humble looking shirt is actually modded to be well-suited for battle. With my usual combat pants also modified, simply because wearing formal pants limits my movement speed and agility.

The convoy stopped at the checkpoint.

“Search the cars.” I ordered, and placed my crosshair right on the front wheel shaft.

After half a minute, came a sudden response, “IED (Improvised Explosive Device)!”

“Down!” I yelled as I fired at the car and the car stalled out. Granite hopped out of the car and began running. He didn’t fly due to the amount of gunfire. Instead he stayed low as we opened fire.

I rappelled down the watch tower and chased behind Granite.

“AMBUSH!” I yelled as a team of armed griffons appeared to cover Granite’s escape. Their resistance forced me to slow down and engage them. 

I managed to take them down swiftly with my trusty Mark 14 I took out before I rappelled out. 

If he continued to run south, he’d reach Baltimare. I had troops deployed their in case he made it there.

It’s an one on one chase when his final guard was gunned down.

Suddenly, he stopped running.

He laughed.

He promptly pulled out a revolver and fanned the hammer!

I attempted to dodge, but he was faster than me! I was shot in the chest five times!

I dropped on the ground. If it wasn’t my kevlar-lined peacoat and an extra bullet vest, I’d be dead for sure.

But even with the protection on my body, it still hurts very badly. It was as if someone smacked my chest with a sledge hammer.

I quickly got back up, ignoring the pain. I lightly brushed my peacoat, and the .500 magnum rounds dropped to the ground.

“A man that can fire 5 .500 rounds quickly and not break his wrist, impressive.” I clapped my hands.

“Not bad, Captain.”

“What do you want this time?” I asked.

“Cooperation.” 

“With an ultranationalist like you?” I learnt my lesson from last time, and that is to bring a pistol.

I drew my M1911 and aimed at him. He pointed his M500 at me. His revolver was a shiny silver chrome colour, with a magnifying scope attached on it.

“An M500 only has 5 bullets, your gun’s empty.” I smirked.

He fired another round, and knocked my pistol off.

“A man that can take 5 .500 rounds to the chest and not die, impressive.” He mimicked my words.

“A sixth bullet?” I asked with a grin.

“Just to catch people like you off guard. Who said that an M500 can only fit 5 bullets?”

“You really ain’t simple.” I bowed. This time out of true respect of his intelligence and power.

“But seriously, I’m out of bullets this time.” He tossed his revolver on the ground in front of him.

“What do you mean?” I raised an eyebrow.

“You know that. Last time we really didn’t had a chance to really try out each other’s true strength.”

My team arrived from behind and all of them raised their rifles at him.

I raised a fist to indicate them to hold. I then tossed my tanto down.

“True men’s battle?”

“Ready when you are.” 

‘Captain… Are you sure…” Lannister spoke.

“Stand down.” I ordered, which they then backed and observed.

With no resistance, I was finally free to fight this man.

“3…2…1…” He counted.

“Go!” I yelled.

We clashed. I punched on his pelvis, but he blocked. With my speed, I could dodge his clawing and slapping with ease.

He tried to scratch me from the top and bottom with both claws. I did a fancy backflip and dodged his attack. I was playing a defensive roll for the entire time.

When two warriors collide and fights to a draw, an important factor starts to set in, stamina.

I’m not the kinda with stamina, I can regenerate stamina over shorter periods of time, but I drain them quickly as well. Which means if I wish to defeat him, I must end the fight fast.

He attempted to swipe kick me, which I grabbed his leg and flipped him on the ground. He splatted his back onto the ground, but then leaped back up and using his momentum to kick me off.

I approached him again, and this time, I missed my attack and he clawed me right on. I closed my eyes just quick enough. His claw left a long scratch mark on my right eye. And he was obviously taunting, as he has three sharp nails and there was only one wound.

“Damn, that’s gonna take a bit to heal.” I smirked.

“And ruin your handsome face, debil!”

“Girls like man with scars.” I used the opportunity of his scratch and with all my strength, bashed upwards with a leap and punch him in the chin.

He fell down, and I backed off as well. “You’re good. Really good.” I complimented.

He caught me off guard as he flopped towards me and subdued me with his strong arm. 

“You’re a respectable opponent, Captain.” He chuckled, and released me.

I could hear the team clapping and cheering behind me as if they were watching a wrestling show.

I couldn’t help but face palmed, “Cheeky Bastards…”

Granite walked up towards the team and raised his arms towards them. “You people are truly brave warriors.”

A new friendship has been born in a battle.

“Go on, do the thing you guys always does.” He pushed his arms towards Lannister. 

“Oh right, yeah that…” He took out a zip tie handcuff and locked his claws up.

It wasn’t because we don’t trust this guy, it’s just because it basic procedure.

Why would I care about procedures if I actually trust him?

Ahh, forget it.

-

Canterlot Command Centre (3C).

“So how exactly does an ultranationalist like you decide to turn the tides and join us?” I asked Granite. His claws were already freed under the supervision of the Princess.

“It is a long story.”

-

I used to be a Gopnik on a street, living life with very low salary and sleep in a broken car.

My mother was long gone and I have no idea what my father is doing. As far as I know, he has a second wife, and another son, older than me, who goes by the name “Malachite”.

I was simply known as “Granite”, from the distinct pale red feathers, with black and white fur on my body.

I started to smuggle drugs on the streets on the Griffonstone Empire, just to earn some extra cash for my life. The economy was crumbling from the corruption happening in the Empire, and this was the only way I could earn more money with relatively less work.

It was until… my first fight. Gangs clashing was crazy that time, and it’s not a rare sight for gangs of people fighting with each other on the street everyday. I was very beat up that day. I was left bleeding on the streets helplessly, which I barely crawled back to my so called home and bandaged myself up.

I realised that I needed to join a clan to have my back supported. I learned how to fight, how to shoot and how to kill. I had continuously challenged those in my gang, and defeat them one by one. 

In a short period of 3 years, I have risen to power of my clan. Those that knew us, dared not to come close to us.

And slowly, from a clan of gangsters, we had became a small army, with me being a warlord. Until one day, one man with the name Krossair approached me.

“So you are the warlord Granite.” He spoke.

“Yes.” I responded. 

“I have an ambitious plan, and I need men like you.” He lit a high class cigar and took a deep smoke.

“Which is?” I walked in circles around this noble man, my left arm swinging widely, while my right arm stayed next to my side without moving much.

He seemed to notice my steps, “Gunslinger’s walk huh? Looks like I got the right man.” He passed me a cigar and opened a briefcase. My eyes almost popped right out of my head as I witnessed the content.

“Just the tip of the iceberg. A little… welcome gift.” He said. “From then on, no need to smuggle firearms, no need to hide.” Inside the briefcase was stacks upon stacks of cash and precious gems and metals.

I chuckled and placed my M500 revolver onto the table as a sign of trust of the man in front of me. 

“So you wish to overthrow the King.” I asked.

“And I will make you the Chief.”

I grinned. “When shall we start?”

Fast-forward to 10 years before present day. 

The battle known to the world as the Griffonstone Civil War broke out.

The militia force that I owned, began fighting with the National Guards of the Empire. I stood back in the line, with Krossair next to me. 

“So you aren’t satisfied as a congress member?” I asked as I held my revolver in my right claw.

“It’s only for our common interest Grand.” In his claw was a titanium-gold-plated Desert Eagle pistol chambered with .50 Action Express rounds. The gun was treated with tiger strips which made the noble made looked bold and somewhat heroic.

With the crumbling financial status of the Griffonstone Empire, the military budget was very crippled and the National Guards were barely even functional. The militia soldiers I trained were much more skilful than the weaklings of the Empire.

Honestly, I already sensed that the crippling economy of the Empire came from corruption of the nobles like Krossair, but as a bad guy with unlimited desire of wealth and power, I did not deny any of his offer. As long as profits are included, I would take it no matter what.

We started of from the very south of the Empire. The mountains are high and the emperor is far away, it is difficult to get justice. Our advancing slowed gradually as we reached closer and closer to the capital.

“Looks like it is my time to shine.” I smirked as I picked up an RPD light machine gun and went berserk. As I walked towards the palace step by step, I held down the trigger and began to wreak havoc upon the resistance. 

The soldiers fall bloody and lifeless in front of me as the sound of my insane laughter and the non stop gunfire drilled through their defence. Krossair followed behind me closely as he also enjoyed the massacre along. With each trigger pull from his heavy pistol, painful screams burst through the battlefield.

We reached the palace with overwhelming victory. I ditched light machine gun and drew my magnum revolver. The revolver was polished and modified. It shined a reflecting silver chrome and has a magnifying scope attached on top of the revolver.

Two mad men, walked inside of the palace with two powerful pistols. Anyone could imagine what happens next.

As the skilful warrior, I took lead of clearing the corners and advancing while Krossair simply stayed behind me, awaiting the big moment.

The soldiers inside all dodged and hid as every loud bang from my revolver sounded like the soul-reaping doom approaching. 

“Damn, this place is massive. So damn beautiful.”

“You simple man. We can make it ten times more majestic than this.”

“Majestic? Come on, you know I don’t understand these high level languages.”

“Sigh… You really are simple.” 

“Whatever. Now we shoot.” 

I walked up on a big door that was barred and locked shut. 

“As far as I know, he would be inside. Unless he decided to bust out of the window, which he’d be shot dead immediately.” Krossair spoke. Being the man that knew the palace well, analysed the situation.

“So how do you wish to finish the deal?” I asked with an evil tone.

“Break the old man’s will.” Krossair grinned. I scavenged a R870 shotgun and let Krossair did his thing.

Krossair knocked on the door of the King’s office with the handle of his pistol. The deep solid knockings sounded like the demon knock on the door of your soul. There was no escape for the man inside.

“King Boris? It’s Krossair, I just want to talk, open the door~” He spoke in a high pitched voice.

He then turned his head and nodded at me, which I then fired a shot in the door knob. The door was chipping away.

Another round.

One more.

Each shot was loud and echoed through the wide hallway. It sounded as if the Grim Reaper’s Scythe sliced and stabbed through the mortal’s souls.

With a final shot, I kicked the door open and we rushed in. Inside stood the man King Boris II, shivering like crazy, in his claws held a Makarov pistol he took from a dead guard. 

“N-now… Let’s just talk l-like civilised…. F-folks shall we….?” He asked with a trembling voice out of fear.

We pointed our pistols at his forehead. A gold shine and a silver shine appeared on his forehead from the reflected lights of our pistols.

“Boris, Boris, you simple man. Look outside, your days are over. Griffonstone is dead. Unless I fix this place for you.” He patted King Boris’ shoulder, while Boris hunched his back and shivered out of fear.

Krossair took a glance at the oversized storage drawer and looked away before yelling, “I know you are there, come out.”

Dead silence.

“I said, COME OUT.” He emphasised his words, before a young noble female walked out. She was King Boris’ only daughter, Princess Galina. She looked young, probably 16 to 17 years old, standing there in her noble gown.

I stood at the door while Krossair continued with his psychological warfare. 

Suddenly!

The girl raised her arm, in her claws was a PP-2000 sub-machine gun!

“Girl’s got a gun!” I warned Krossair.

As a master gunslinger, I promptly smack the hammer on my revolver and fired a shot, which knocked her gun off her claws before she could even aim. Krossair turned around, to see the now defenceless girl standing there horrified.

“Not under my watch… Little bastard.” I chuckled.

Krossair grabbed some zip ties and duck tape, then tied King Boris down. Krossair was wearing a tight tuxedo, which didn’t got bloody and dirty, and didn’t limit his movement somehow. He smacked King Boris’ shoulder with his pistol, which made him grown in pain.

“No!” The Princess screamed as she watched her father gets attacked.

“Krossair then turned towards the princess. Out of fear, she backed away. However, with a stumble she fell on the ground. She panicked and began crawling backwards, until she eventually had her back blocked by a wall.

He placed his gold-plated pistol on the office desk, then slowly walked towards the girls. Every footsteps sounded heavy and loud.

“I clearly remember saying ‘come out’, not ‘come out and shoot me.’” He kneeled down and looked at the princess. He then forcefully picked her up on her collar and splatted her back onto the office desk, creating a loud impact sound.

“Since you are that disobedient… Looks like I would have to teach you a lesson.” He grinned pervertedly as his vision landed on the young princess’ body.

“Get off me!” The princess struggled, trying to break free from Krossair, but failed to even move him. He was just too strong for her.

“Granite? Make sure this old hag watches the show nice and comfortably.” He ordered.

“As you wish, King Krossair.” I smirked as I reloaded my revolver and walked towards the incapacitated King Boris. I pulled on the feathers on his head to force him to look upwards at his pinned down daughter.

“Enjoy the show before going to hell, King Boris.” I taunted as I pressed my revolver barrel on his head forcefully.

I then witnessed Krossair’s true self. And I could really say, he is a living demon.

He forcefully stripped the girl naked, and started to abuse this underaged noble girl in front of her father’s eyes.

“No! Please don’t! NO!” King Boris started to scream and cry like a broken man as he watched her daughter being abused by a cruel man. 

“Shh, just keep watching.” I whispered in King Boris’ ear. I then shot my hostage with the 6 bullets on my revolver. His limbs and his wings started bleeding and he cried out in pain.

For a moment, the room was filled with the crying of a broken man, and the screaming and moaning of a helpless young lady. 

After Krossair was finally satisfied, he left the girl lying on the table helplessly.

“Go on Granite, feast as you wish.” He encouraged me.

My mind was torn into two sides. Should I? Or Should I not?

After a few seconds of hesitation, I did the thing that I would regret for the rest of my live. I maybe a gangster, selling drugs and firearms, but had I really stooped that low, as to abuse females for my own desire?

After I promptly finished, I looked at her.

“I’m sorry.” I then shot her in the head, as to put a quick end to her suffering.

I’m going to hell for sure.

I then realise the King there, which before I could end him, Krossair was already one step ahead and emptied an entire magazine of bullets into the King’s skull.

He then sat on the big office chair, with his claws behind his head and his legs resting on the dead girl’s nude chest. He smoked another high-class cigar, and extinguished it on the girl’s body.

“This is the best day of my life!” He exclaimed as he leaned back and rested.

“Yes, most definitely.” I promptly replied.

I have decided to join forces with…

A living demon.

What have I done?

-  
7 years later, 3 years before present day.

I wandered on the streets of the new Griffonstone Empire. After these years that I have served King Krossair, I have realised that this man…

Is way beyond a demon.

He, is hell itself.

Unleashed on the lands of Griffonstone.

And beside me stood a beautiful girl. She looked cute, and has a black ebony furs.

Her name is Obsidian, and believe it or not, she is the only thing in this Empire I can trust.

“At least you finally understood your mistakes. Don’t be afraid to correct it. The Empire needs you to regain balance.” She leaned on me shoulder as we walked.

“Right.” I stared off to the distance.

I didn’t realise, that was the final conversation we had.

The next day, Krossair already ordered to have all the virgin females around the Empire to the palace. 

“So can I have a few?” I asked, only of the intension to protect my crush.

“Of course Grand.” He answered simply, before inspecting his new… “pets”, as he said.

“I want her, and her only.” I pointed at Obsidian, who was standing in front of the row.

“Oh, this girl. Sorry Grand, but I’m keeping her, pick another one, will you?” 

“Wait, I thought you said I can choose any of them.”

He stopped teasing his “pet” and looked at me.

“Any but her. This little girl is too cute, I’m keeping her.”

I couldn’t hold my anger and finally protested against him for the first time.

“You damn hypocrite! I want this girl and this girl only! Is that too much to ask for?!”

A few guards raised their rifles towards me and Krossair picked up his pistol, pointing it at me.

“Granite, Granite. You simple man. I made you! I made you who you are today! If it wasn’t me you would still be sleeping in a rat hole in the dumpster!” He raged.

I finally realised how scary it is to stare down a Desert Eagle’s barrel.

I helped this man conquer a Kingdom, and now I finally realised, he was only using me the entire time.

“Fine…fine…I’m sorry.” I backed off with my claws opened in front of me.

“Good. Now if you’ll excuse me…” He went back with his… “business”.  
The next few nights I could not sleep at all. 

What have I done?

What will happen to Obsidian?

I kept scratching my scalp as I rolled around on my bed.

Then I looked over to the end table, my M500 revolver placed on a stand, with six .500 magnum bullets alined perfectly next to the gun. The gun shined a silver chrome as the dim light reflected off the gun. A decorative piece of metal was wrapped around the barrel and gave the barrel a cuboid shape. On it was an engraving of Me and Obsidian, with her name engraved on the underside of the barrel.

“Krossair…I’m going to kill you.”  
-

“Holy Celestia…” Lannister was shocked.

“At least he doesn’t know magic. Or else…” I muttered.

“Actually, this bastard is not simple. Maybe he has plans lying around to make him become the strongest man in the entire planet.” Granite analysed.

“Any known plans?”

“A few that I know are nuclear warheads and Personality Manipulation.” 

“Well what are we waiting for? Just bomb their capital right now!” Lannister cried.

“Calm down, Lannister. Griffonstone Empire is rigged with a dead man’s switch. Which means, if anywhere in the Griffonstone territory detects an unusual radiation burst, it would track down the launcher source and launcher every single missile around the entire Empire to the source region.”

So that means, even if we managed to kill that SOB, we’ll still be screwed.”

“I told you he is a mad man.”

“You mentioned personality manipulation.” I asked calmly.

Ahh yes. As a politician he is a master of psychological warfare.”

Granite activated the holograph projector on the conference table, and scrolled through some files stored in a flash drive he carried.

“Here. In a nutshell, he would make someone undergo extreme torture and long term mental damages, to break even the toughest man's will. He would take those who disobeys him, trap him inside a chamber and bend his will until his mind becomes so twisted and wrong, that he would either obey his orders indefinitely or becoming a mindless killing machine.”

“So if he realised that you betrayed him, he would most definitely get someone as good as you to substitute your role.”

“Malachite is still playing his role as a loyal sergeant in the Empire, so he should be fine.”

“So who would he take?” 

Granite and Lannister looked at me.

“I have a bad feeling about this. Seriously.”


	7. The Madness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The newly formed elite team carried out two infiltration missions, which revealed how crazy of a man Krossair Zaslavsky was. Upon the second mission, the team found themselves plunged deep inside a killing circle of the enemy, and someone must stay to protect the rest.

“We have to sabotage the system and Kill Krossair before he decides to level the continent with bombs.” 

“Agreed. What tactics do you advise?” Even as a commander, asking for opinions is not something to feel shameful upon. More brains to think, less mistakes we’ll make.

“Eclipse, you and me and a small team of your special forces member, shall infiltrate the palace and Krossair’s mansion.”

“Roger that.” 

“And the rest of the forces shall attack the command centre and the barracks. This way, that bastard will have more than one thing to worry about.”

“Brilliant.” I complimented.

“Let the Bravo team strike first. Their barracks are located right next to the integrated power generators, with nuclear, hydroelectric and thermal generators. Destroy the transmission station, and they will be lost in the dark. After the lights shut out, they are free to engage. The palace and mansion has backup power, we’ll strike once that kicks in.” Granite explained with details.

“Wait, a King in power for 10 years still owns an active mansion?” Lannister asked.

“He doesn’t live in it. I just assume he has secrets stashed there. Primary objective is to destroy the dead man’s switch and cripple their communication, we can kill Krossair later.”

“I guess I shall go brief the team.” I stood up and left.

“I’ll talk with Malachite to assist us in there.” Granite left the conference room to make phone calls.

Lannister stayed in the conference room and looked at the projector’s images. He scrolled through some files and found something that meets his eyes.

“Operation Frostbite.”

In an encrypted file, wrote the names of those killed by Granite.

He opened the file and looked around, and in the file he found one line of text that shocked him.

“Equestrian Royal Air Force, Special Air Service Regiment, Staff Sergeant…”

He scrolled down.

“Sky Striker.”

“Striker… But… no… it can’t be!” He stared at the holographic image, and he could feel his face tense up, a sour feeling that started to fill up his eyes.

His vision started to go blurry as his pupils were covered in a bead of tear.

“Granite…I trusted you…” He held his fist tight, and punched downwards forcefully onto the table, making the image flash a bit.

“I shall avenge your death… my brother.” He held his XM8 assault rifle in his hands and looked at it, while drops of tears dropped on the rifle that was previously owned by his brother.

“Lannister, I need you over here right now!” I called through the radio.

“Roger that.” He rubbed his tears of his face onto his uniform, then took a deep breathe before walking out of the conference room.

-

“He should be asleep by now.” Granite looked at his watch.

11p.m., Capital of the Griffonstone Empire.

“As soon as the lights are out, we go in, kill the backup power and rig the servers with C-4s, then we get out, rush to his mansion, download as much information as possible and haul ass before sun rise.” Granite instructed.

“You’re calling the shots.” I replied.

“Alpha team, stay here and provide support with UAV and sniper cover. Eclipse, on me.”

“Copy that.”

We waited for a few minutes, and heard some griffons yelling something in their language. The lights flickered, and we received a transmission from Bravo team,

“Alpha, this is Bravo. Power’s out. You’re clear to proceed, over.”

“Solid copy, Bravo. We’re Oscar Mike.” I replied.

Granite swung his head towards the palace, signalling me to move. I nodded and raised my Mark 14 and checked my MP5SD sub-machine gun.

“Entry team, this is Lannister. Radio check, over.” 

“Lannister, this is Entry team, we got you loud and clear, over.”

After we made sure everything was going according to plan, Granite opened the door and scouted through the hallway with his AK-47.

I stayed right behind Granite, as he knew the environment the best, and I would cover his back. All of our weapons are suppressed, just in case we actually need to open fire.

“Down to the power station first, this should distract them to fix the power station, and we should have enough time to disable the system and rig it.” He explained.

“Entry team, be advised, the power station was heavily guarded by the enemies around it’s perimeter, over.” 

“Roger that.” 

We walked down a few flights of stairs, as Granite cleared the front and I kept our backs safe. It was a tunnel that connects all structures around the palace to the palace itself.

As Granite planned to bust through the door, I halted him.

“Don’t blow up anything. They’ll get suspicious.” I learnt my lesson from the Embassy mission.

“You got better plans?”

“In fact, I do.”

I looked at a diagram of the circuit inside. Since the power circuits are connected in parallel, we could theoretically just blow out all the fuses at once with enough Ampere of power. And since the circuits were poorly planned, they must replace all of the fuses before the power station could recover.

I connected up a controlled power supply and shorted the circuit. With a loud click the lights switched off.

“Nicely done, comrade.”

“My thanks.” 

“They’re gonna come investigate, better get moving.” He started to move, and I moved as well. I made sure to hide the evidence so that they wouldn’t know of our existence. 

“Now to the servers. Kill the UPS and disable the system, then place some C-4 in places they wouldn’t think to look.”

Since Granite knew the routines of the guards around the palace, we managed to slip through with ease.

I switched to my MP5SD as we entered a luxurious hallway. The wall was painted in a royal red colour and everything reflects gold lights when we shined our flashlights at it.

I looked over at the left wall, which was a oil canvas painting framed with purple heart wood. In the painting was a a griffon wearing a black bullet proof vest, holding a chrome silver revolver sitting on a stone statue.

“Grand, never except you have a massive portrait, national hero.” I chuckled.

“Shut up.” He groaned.

“I’ll hang that on your tombstone.” I teased him.

“I’ll shoot your dick off if you dare to do that.”

“Try me.” 

“Alright that’s enough. We’ve got work to do.” I interrupted our talking.

After a few turns and ascending two floors, we arrived at the command centre, something similar to the one in the embassy. 

“This time, do it the right way.” He instructed.

“So you were there that day?”

“Or else why do you think there were towboats armed with machine guns?”

I connected the door look to my portable power supply, and Granite entered the passcode.

The door slowly opens, and we were inside the command centre. Since the power was out, everyone headed to troubleshoot the power supply, and no one was inside the dark room full of servers and computers.

“Sector clear.” I reported, as I headed in first.

“Don’t waste time hacking through. Just snatch the motherboard.” He took off a side panel of a massive computer and torn a motherboard out.

As he did his role of sabotaging the system, I ducked underneath the table and mounted some remote explosives underneath the main console. With the facade it should cover up the explosives.

“Entry team, this is Alpha. UAV scan shows enemies closing in on your position from multiple directions, over.”

The lights suddenly turned back on again. 

“Damn, they are fast, I’ll give them that.” Granite readied his AK-47 as he peeked around the corner of the door. 

I checked the other doors, there were armed griffons walking near us!

“Looks like the show’s on.” I smirked.

We ducked down behind the main console, with our backs facing the ginormous display of the command centre.

I held my MP5SD tight in my hands and checked the red dot sight. 

“Get ready. 3…2…”

I readied my SMG and just as I was about to hop up…

“Hold!” Granite stopped me.

Within half a second, we heard suppressed gunfire coming from those corridors.

“Grand?” A male voice called.

“Malachite!” Granite stood up, but still raised his rifle and pointed at a green feathered griffon who wields an M4A4 Carbine with a holographic sight and a handle.

The two looked at each other for a solid second before lowering their rifles. Behind Malachite stood a few griffons, who seemed to be Malachite’s loyalists.

“Hey you, I know you’re there.” Malachite called out. He was referring to me, obviously.

I hopped up with my SMG pointed dead on him, which I then slowly lowered after I confirmed that he was friendly.

“Thanks man, we owe you one.” I saluted at him.

“So what’s your plan now?” Malachite asked with a heavy accent like Granite’s.

“Head to that bastard’s mansion, see what that bastard has in mind.”

“Lead on, then.” He seemed to show complete trust in his younger half-brother.

“Alpha, this is Entry team, objective complete, we’re Oscar Mike, over.”

“Solid copy, Entry team. Group up in our position.” 

-

We all boarded on a small, low-profile convoy that would take us to the second objective. It was 2 am, and the deserted places around the palace was quite ironic and somewhat spine chilling. It was as if the palace was just a monument, and everything should stay away and pay their respects from afar.

“So this is your brother, Grand?” I asked.

“Yeah, he not talk much, but like hard bass music and drinking Kvass.”

“I thought those half-brothers would hate each other like in movies.”

“Well, you said it, movies. We liked each other very much.”

“Father told me to take care of him.” Malachite spoke again. I noticed that he didn’t speak much, and also didn’t seemed to be living in the moment. He just seemed to be living in his own mind all the time, until he eventually speaks once or twice.

I could easily tell why they’re named like that. Granite’s feather was a dull red with white and black fur. If he lies down on a piece of granite rock, I don’t think anyone could see him.

Same for Malachite. He has blueish-green feathers which the colour was deeper on the root and lighter on the tip. 

“So you two are just called Granite and Malachite?”

“Granit Vladimirovich Kalashnikov.”

“Malakhit Vladimirovich Kalashnikov.”

“So your father is…”

“Vladimir Kalashnikov.”

“Fair enough.” I looked out at the window again, as I dare not to ask what’s their backstory about their father.

We dropped off at a small hill next to the hill of Krossair’s mansion. 

I instructed a few squad members to stay and provide support as me, Granite, Malachite and Lannister breached the perimeter.

“Alright, let’s go.” I, as a well-trained commander takes back commanding role as none of us has any idea of what we’re going to face.

“Night vision on.” I strapped on a pair of night vision goggles as we moved towards the mansion.

“Stack up on the door. Breach and clear.” I instructed. Lannister was behind me, and Malachite was behind Granite.

Lannister picked the door lock, and we moved in. I raised my rifle with one hand as I twisted the door knob and we entered the mansion. 

I cleared the ground floor, and Granite cleared the top floor.

Lannister and Malachite swept the basement.

“Sir, there’s an armoury down here. You might want some weapons here.”

“Roger that. Group up for now, I have something to show you all.”

And by something, I meant Krossair’s madness.

All four of us gathered in a modern living room on the ground floor, and I started scrolling through the files in Krossair’s archive server.

“Personality manipulation. Here it is.” Granite looked at the document.

We looked at the document for a few moments.

“This is madness…” Lannister was completely shocked.

“There’s more. Inter-continent ballistic nuclear missiles, Atomic cell reconstruction, IVF alicorns, Summoning of Nightmare Moon…”

“Forget about it, get this back to 3C and we’ll see what to do next.”

“So more downloading?” Lannister asked.

“At least this guy got the right mind to install gigabit networking.” I chuckled, “But it’s a few terabytes in size. Even with 10 gigabyte per second download speed, it’s still take some time.”

I looked outside where a few search light shined on the ground and one straight towards us.

“Aww, crap.”

Everyone ducked down as attack helicopters started to spray 20mm gatling gun rounds down towards us, meanwhile dozens of griffons fly and rappelled out of the choppers. The bullets shattered the glass window panes and they fall on the ground as sharp shards.

“Don’t use magic. It’ll attract unnecessary attention.” Granite pointed at a line on the monitor which wrote, “Magic Target Tracking”.

“I need not my magic to fight through this.” 

I rushed down to the armoury and returned with a Beretta M107 .50 caliber sniper rifle. As a well-trained aerial and ground marksman, I can counteract quite a lot of things with one sniper rifle.

“Fire at will!” I called through the radio and alerted the support team.

Guns started blazing through the hill side and top. I took aim and started to pull my trigger each time my crosshair landed on something that moves.

Granite took an RPK-16 to provide suppress fire. Malachite took an M249 and Lannister took an L86A1.

“Here we go.”

I made sure that they blocked off all other exits and entrances before we engage, and the next second all hell broke loose and all of us started to fire at them.

“Take down the chopper!” Lannister dodged behind a stone wall as a chopper started to spray bullets towards him.

I looked over with my .50 caliber rifle and I took aim at the cockpit.

A trigger pull later.

The chopper went spirally downwards to the ground.

“Got it!” I reported.

We heard another loud bang.

The UAV that we deployed in the air was destroyed by a missile.

“Entry team, this is Alpha. UAV is down. I repeat, UAV is down!” 

“I’m hit!” Granite yelled from the other side of the room. I looked over at his direction, and his arm was being covered in a stream of red fluid. 

The Granite I know doesn’t scream in pain normally.

Unless it’s a 20mm bullet bursting into his arm. That’d hurt a lot.

“Goodness’ sake.” Malachite dropped his rifle and rushed over to Granite.

“Don’t all dump down your guns- Ahh, forget it!” I tried to stop Malachite from leaving his position, but as a loyal brother, I knew I couldn’t stop him.

I tossed down my rifle and picked up Malachite’s RPK-16. The machine gun has the accuracy of a sniper rifle, which should compensate for the lack of firepower now.

“Lannister! Check on the download progress!” I yelled through the radio, and did not look away from my targets.

“Download’s complete, sir!” Lannister yelled back through the radio.

“Alpha team! We’ve got the Intel! Haul ass now!” I commanded.

“Exfil team this is Alpha. Intel secured! We’ve got one wounded, requesting immediate dust-off!”

“Alpha, this is Exfil team. Solid copy, Proceeding to LZ Charlie ETA 5 minutes.”

The team began to move out of the mansion to the landing zone under the hill. The landing zone was surrounded by trees and should give us some protection as we fight through their resistance.

Granite was shot in the shoulder and Malachite was assisting him. I picked up the RPK-16 LMG and scouted ahead for the entry team. Lannister carried the flash drive with the intel with him and stayed with the two griffons.

“Alpha, cut off enemy resistance from the west!” I instructed the support team outside of the mansion.

I returned fire as soon as I walked out of the door. The high fire rate of the LMG did mean some heavy recoil for me to handle, but it was my team’s life on my hands, and therefore no matter what I must take lead.

“Grand! You alright?”

“I’m alive, but not well.”

He wasn’t lying. His right arm was basically unusable.

Malachite took Granite’s M500 revolver and began to return fire as well.

I looked ahead towards the landing zone.

“Mortar fire!” I warned the team behind me. I turned my body towards the left and stretched my mech wing out for the projectile barrier.

“Keep moving! We’ve got to get out of the kill zone!” The mortal shells and bullets rained on my barrier and I could feel the impact pushing me downwards.

“Alpha team, this is Exfil team, we’re inbound. Need some help boys?”

“Exfil team! Alpha requesting CAS (Close Air Support)!”

“Roger that. Gun them down!” The commander of the Exile team commanded the aircraft to return fire and cover our exfiltration.

The griffons ahead of us now has two things to worry at once.

A griffon hopped out from a bush next to me and bashed me down!

I dropped my bulky machine gun and attempted to punch him, but he dodged.

Now that my barrier isn’t facing the sky, the team behind would be vulnerable to the mortar fire.

I grabbed his front arm and twist on it as hard as I could twist, and a clear cracking sound could be heard. I broke his right arm, and I quickly kicked him in the stomach.

“Idi Nahui!” I spoke in their language. I think that meant, “Get away”.

I got up again and my barrier is covering the team again. He tried to scratch me again, but I bashed the stock on the rifle on him, pushing him backwards, and gunned him down.

The machine gun eventually ran out of bullets, which I then drew my trusty rifle and continued shooting. We quickly rushed into the small strip of trees to avoid direct contact with the enemies.

“Keep going!” I rushed out to cover the team.

“Deploying smoke!” The chopper’s grenade launcher launched some smoke grenade. Within seconds our area behind the trees were covered in a thick layer of grey smoke.

The barrier could only last so long before running out of charge. It does run on battery power, after all.

The barrier started to blink as the power drained out. I kept it on as long as I can until it didn’t want to switch on again.

“Hurry up! Let the wounded board first!” The team made it back one by one.

However, the enemy reinforcement also arrived as we were about to lift off. They were tailing us and putting pressure on us very hard.

“Take off!” I ordered as I continued kneeling on the ground and firing.

“Eclipse! Get on! It’s time to leave!”

“Just Go! I will catch up!”

The chopper began to ascend slowly behind me. I didn’t look away, as mortal shells and sniper still lurks in the area, and I will have to protect the aircraft from those threats.

“Alpha this is Central Command. Bravo team is combat ineffective and requesting assistance. Proceed to the second AO, over.”

“I don’t care what you’re order is! We’ve got men down there!” 

“No! Take off now or we all die!”

“Captain!” 

“All of you shut up! Proceed to the AO right now!” I growled through the radio as they argued on the chopper. Now is not the time for this.

As the chopper finally left the air space, I took a breathe of relief. The enemies were still swarming in, and my left arm was shot twice.

I fell on the ground, but I would never give up. I pulled out an M1911 pistol and continued shoot…

Until eventually…

Running out of bullets…

My eyes started to close…

They are all surrounding me…


	8. Friend or Enemy?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sky Lannister wished to avenge his brother's death, which he had just the right opportunity. As he tried to take his chance, the team also found out about some very creepy invention of Krossair.

Malachite carefully bandaged my wounded arm.

“Can you shoot?” He asked me, sounding very concerned of my well-being.

“Yeah, I guess. Better pick something less powerful for now.” I took my revolver back from Malachite and placed it back in the holster.

“Damn it Eclipse, you idiot…” I looked out at the window of the chopper, but we had already left the airspace.

Lannister remained silent.

“Oh for goodness’ sake.” The pilot spoke as we arrived at the barracks and power station area.

I took a Kriss Vector .45 ACP and jumped out as we touched down.

“Alpha Team, your primary objective is to get the Brave team out.”

“Roger that.”

I walked outside, but in front of me was only a site full of debris and flames. Black smoke rising from everywhere around the area. I could even smell burnt bodies, which wasn’t the most pleasant smell I know for sure.

“Brave team, this is Alpha. Does anyone copy?” I asked.

Silence.

I scouted around the flaming structure. Everything is daed.

“Command, this is Alpha. Is the Bravo even alive?”

“Search the mechanics boneyard.”

“Roger that.”

I stepped towards the boneyard. The place was stacked with broken down cars and trucks, even planes. Those were machines of the last generation, around King Boris’ era.

Speaking of which, I think we dumped King Boris and her daughter somewhere around here 10 years ago…

Now that I think about it, that’s just morbid.

I walked towards a tank, and I saw one Bravo Team soldier leaning against it.

I rushed towards him and checked on him.

“There are.. cough… Run…” He struggled to get his words out, and slowly died as he finished speaking.

“What?” I was so confused.

Gunshots could be hearing coming from deeper inside of the boneyard. I climbed up of the tank to see some griffons in suits and AK74s walking around, bullet holes around them.

“Lannister, have you read anything from the computer at the mansion about some cloning black magic stuff?” I asked.

“Not sure, but the word clone did appear quite a lot of times.”

I jumped down from the take and pointed my Vector at them. They raised their AK74s at me, which with a quick pull of the trigger, got knocked away from their claws.

They then pulled out their combat knifes in sync and rolled forward and simultaneously attacked me. 

Since we were in close range, I couldn’t point my Vector at them, and I was forced to combat them with bare claws. I bashed my body towards one to get him off me while I scratched the other one’s chest with my sharp claws.

He didn’t seemed to feel pain and continued attacking without pausing at all. The one that I nudged also walked back towards me as he was stopped being pushed.

I realised that simply injuring them will not make them stop and therefore I must kill them completely before they stab me a thousand times.

I scratched on one’s face, attempting to affect his attack by disabling his vision. It seemed to work at first, but seconds later he returned and stabbed his knife toward my right shoulder.

Exactly where I was shot!

I kicked them off and couldn’t help but to shiver.

They were best described as… Zombies.

Krossair… You’re way beyond insane.

I punched on the other clone’s stomach, which he cringed along my force. Seizing the opportunity, I placed my arms above and underneath his arm, and with a powerful tug, broke his arm.

I quickly grabbed his knife and stabbed him in the heart. Pulled out, and stabbed again.

The remaining clone attempted to backstab me, which I then kicked backwards, turned around and flung the combat knife towards him. The blade went flying straight towards his neck, and jabbed deep onto his aorta.

Blood started to spew out like a fountain from his neck, and I quickly finished him off by pulling out the knife on his neck and stabbed it towards his heart.

The two griffons finally fell down, and I leaned my back on the tank behind me. I pressed a claw tightly on the wound on my shoulder.

“Malachite! Watch out for the griffons! The mad man deployed clones!”

“Roger.” Malachite replied. As brief as it normally does.

“Command, can you contact Captain Eclipse?” I was fearing that man might encounter something worse than swarms of griffons.

“Granite this is Command, negative. We have lost Eclipse’s signal. Out.”

“This is bad.” I mumbled to myself.

“Command, no Brave team members on sight. Found one, KIA.” 

“Roger that. Heat scanning shows no more living signals apart from Alpha Squad in your area. Get ready for evac, over.”

“Copy that.” 

Metal impact sound came next to me, following a gunshot. I looked over to the side, a bullet dent appeared on the tank along with a smear of gore. On the ground was another dead griffon clone wearing a suit, his brain blown out by the bullet and blood pouring out from his forehead.

I looked to the opposite side, stood an Equestrian Royal Air Force Corporal, wielding an XM8 assault rifle, pointing at my direction. He was wearing the same coloured beret as Eclipse did.

Sky Lannister.

“Thanks, comrade.” I waved my left claw towards him, and I picked up the Vector I picked up. The barrel on his rifle seemed to be tracking me and didn’t move away from me for a single second as I picked up my gun.

I walked towards him, but he stepped forward, his hands slightly trembling as he gripped on his rifle hard.

“Don’t come over here.”

I stood there, “What the hell, Lannister?”   
“Don’t call me that! I am Corporal Sky Lannister, not a kid.” His voice was slightly trembling. He looked at me with his rifle near his face. His face showed determination, and some fear at the same time. 

“Okay… Just calm down and lower your gun okay?” 

He fired another round that flew right beside me. He was clearly warning me that he was being serious.

“Lannister! Check your fire!” I slowly backed off. He really did learnt some traits from his captain.

He pointed the barrel straight at my head. I know he was being serious. Before he could pull the trigger the third time, I dodged to the side and behind the tank.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?!”

“Granit Kalashnikov, you killed my brother, and I shall avenge his death!” I peeped from the corner, and he fired a few rounds towards me. I rolled back inwards, and the bullets hit the metal armour of the tank behind me, making a loud metal impact sound.

I readied my Vector, but I didn’t want to hurt him.

“You killed my brother, injured my Captain and abandoned him in enemy hands!”

He was enraged. I raised my Vector and moved away. As I took a few steps and hide from Lannister, the griffons in suits appeared again.

“Lannister! Watch out for clones!” I warned him through the radio.

He didn’t respond.

Hope that bastard actually listened.

In front of me stood not one, not two, not three…

But seven clones!

“Bugger.” I couldn’t help to say. I raised my SMG and gunned two of them down.

The fire rate of the gun was still no match of the clone’s speed!

They returned fire, and I dodged behind some stacked containers. The bullets flew past me as I slipped behind the containers. The bullets flew towards me as if they were intelligent!

5 AK-74 carbines continued firing towards me. I tried to return fire from a distance, but they closed in towards me rapidly!

My biggest concern was, the guns they were using, was far less lethal than the clones themselves! They were just killing machines that just looked like a griffon but couldn’t feel pain.

At that moment I must improvise. Close quarter combat with those clones would only give myself a significant disadvantage. However, with their speed, it seemed inevitable.

I picked up a scrap metal piece with my left claw, moderately heavy and quite long, and ready to combat once they entered melee range. I still kept my injured and bleeding right arm armed with the Vector SMG just in case.

As the clones were about to turn the corner, I raised my Vector and pulled the trigger. Two more clones got packed with bullet holes all over their bodies. With three clones left, it was a one versus three battle.

I dropped my Vector as they pulled out their knives. I smacked the scrap metal at one of the clone’s head, but he blocked it with his knife!

I could do that too, if I wasn’t injured.

Without stopping, I kicked on his calf before dodging a swipe of the other clone’s knife. Before the other clone could stab me, I jabbed my claw on the clone’s neck and flung him towards myself. The clone didn’t stop fast enough, and stabbed his comrade!

With the opportunity, I pushed the clone in my claw forward, jabbing the knife deeper, before approaching the attacking clone and gave his head a home run. 

Crushing the clone’s head, there was only one left to fight.

Wait, where is he?

Why does my back feel cold?

Oh crap.

He backstabbed me!

The knife was stuck right next to my rib cage and he pressed hard on the knife. Under the influence of the extreme pain, I turned around with my entire body’s strength…

Smashed the scrap metal on his face and broke his skull!

Not taking any chances, I smacked him the second time, on the opposite side on his face. He spitted a mouthful of blood onto my body and vest. He was about to fall, and I spun the scrap metal to its sharp side towards the clone, and then…

Punctured his face and pinned his head right onto the ground!

“That was close…” I panted as I had spent a lot of my stamina. 

A loud, slightly high-pitched scream came from not too far away…

Then my mind flashed with one word, “Lannister!”

I rushed towards the direction of the scream, and I saw Lannister moderately injured, fighting clones alone!

My right side of the body was injured 3 times in a row, and the final backstabbing was extremely painful, but I dare not to risk my comrade’s life.

I reached my claw to grip onto my M500 revolver.

“Cyka Blyat Idi Nahui!”

My yelling attracted the clones attention, and I did the thing that I was most familiar with. 

Gunslinging.

As usual, I drew my revolver and smacked the hammer rapidly with my left claw.

Six loud bangs later, only one clone was left standing. I threw my heavy revolver towards the clone, hitting him on the head, and then finishing him off with stab into his chest and cutting off all his blood vessel.

I gripped my claw and pulled his heart out of his chest, and threw it like a grenade to the distance.

I looked back downwards, to see my blood-coated claws dripping red liquid.

What did I just do?

I looked over at Lannister, who quite literally just cheated death by my intervention.

“Thank me later.” I spoke with a cocky tone.

“I’ll thank you when you’re dead.” He looked at me, still with that furious emotion. He was quite injured, but he seemed to still wanted to fight me.

I could see fear bleeding through his eyes. He witnessed his beloved captain being defeated by me in front of him. He knew it was a losing battle, but his instincts was encouraging him.

Before he could even bring his knife close to me, I already subdued him.

“Lannister! Listen to me!” He struggled for a bit, but eventually stopped.

I let go of him to show him I trust him.

“This is war time! Krossair could level this continent out within an hour! I’m sorry that I was the killer of your brother, but now is not the time! You can kill me all you want after this war, but now we must join forces to kill the common enemy!” 

I went to pick back up my revolver. The gun still shined like brand new even with blood covering the chrome body. I wiped away the blood on the barrel and, it still looked as gorgeous as I first owned it.

Lannister stood back up and barely holding himself off. I helped him pick up his XM8 and held him with my shoulder. 

“You alright mate?”

He looked away like those rogue teenagers.

I carried him back towards the chopper for dust-off. Alpha team was expecting us at the chopper.

“Granite! Lannister! What the hell happened?” 

“Long story. More like another Krossair’s antics.”

I sat back down on the chopper. When I finally calmed down, I realised that the six gunshots really hurt my arm, and had slightly torn my open wound.

And the knife on my back hurts even worse, as the immense recoil from the revolver knocked the knife and made it cut through my body deeper.

But all these didn’t matter, as it was my redemption. To save a teammate, and to compensate for his brother that I had killed.

-

Unknown location, South of Griffonstone Empire.

Inside a shantytown, lies a modern mansion, with a dungeon included.

Inside the clean, modern-looking underground dungeon, were huge chains locked on the rings on the concrete wall.

With the steel chains, tied a man’s five limbs. 

Five limbs?

2 arms, 2 legs, and 1 wing.

“What the hell…” the man awakens.

“So, I see the Captain is awake, hmm?” A griffon in a royal red robe walked towards the bonded man. In his claw was a titanium gold-plated Desert Eagle pistol.

The man in bond struggled on his bondage.

“So I see you have… persuaded my lieutenants Granite and Malachite to join your side of the war, sabotaged my Empire’s energy source and command system, and read everything about my plans, haven’t you?” He fiddled his pistol in his claw as if it was a fidget spinner.

“Idi Nahui.” The man replied rudely.

“I see that you have learnt our language.” With that, he took out a blocky device with two thongs on the top of it.

He jabbed the thongs on the device onto the Captain’s body, sending thousands of volts of electricity through his body. The man screamed in pain.

“You do have some nerves to challenge me.” He chuckled.

-

“You are insane!” I growled.

He walked around me in circles.

“So as you may have seen that, I have some plans currently in progress. And it was quite unfortunate that you have taken away two of my valuable test subject, but then… It seems like that I have found a better substitute, Your Royal Highness.” He bowed before me with a cheeky emotion.

I looked outside of the glass chamber I was locked in. Some griffons tried to touch my unsheathed Sword of the Burnt Secrets with some weird devices, but got blasted away by the magic force on the blade.

“By the way, you do know why your knife is called the Sword of the Burnt Secrets right?” 

His eyes turned green and his pupils a blood red, and a flow of purple smoke started to flow from his eyes!

As a descendent of the Nightmare himself, I felt fearful against a Nightmare.

He really is hell itself unleashed.

“Holy Celestia…”

‘Shouldn’t you say, ‘Hail King Sombra?’”

“You did… read about the personality manipulation part right?”

“So what?”

“Nothing really. You just seemed… quite interested in the topic.”

“I have no interest in your crazy experiments!”

“Do you have a choice?” He chuckled in an evil tone.

My mech wing was removed and mounted on a rack outside. 

“You know what they say, ‘Your moves are miscalculated, and underestimating your enemies—your biggest mistake. You will find the will of a single man can be broken.’”

I had a really bad feeling about this.

“But you know what I also know?” He lifted my chin with his cold, sharp claws.

I looked away from his demonic eyes. It feels quite different to have the demonic eyes and to look into one.

“That you are like clay, conjured and summoned by pure dark magic. And with some procedure and black magic, you can be made into any shape, or anything for that matter. Even your brother.”

He took out a black gun-shaped thing. It has a tube like thing that resemble a barrel and a trigger underneath it.

“Eclipse, you’re quite young honestly. I think you are… 6 years old this year? And I think Granite told you about the story happened in this glorious Empire 10 years ago. He was such a horny pervert, you know.”

He whispered in my ear, “And you know, I like my pets young too.”

This is so much worse than I first expected.

He pointed his weird gadget at me, but I don’t feel the threat of death.

I fear worse.

He pulled the trigger. Nothing seemed to have happened at first, until I looked downwards.

My chest looked… bulged?

He grinned, and then squeezed on my chest with his claws.

It was soft?

I finally realised what happened.

“Don’t worry, my Princess, I will turn you back to a glorious Prince once you have completed the experiment.” He whispered as he unbuttoned my peacoat.

The upcoming was even more horrifying.

Please, make it stop.


	9. The Tyrant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being back at Canterlot, Granite reunited with someone he hadn't seen in years. However at the same time, they found out something very disturbing about King Krossair.
> 
> Warning: Depictions of mild sexual content. Proceed at your own risk.

“Have we lost contact with Captain Eclipse completely?” 

“I’m sorry but yes, we cannot detect and reconnect with the Captain.”

I sat down at the conference table again, staring at the holographic display. The display showed Eclipse’s profile. The bar with the label “status” flashed red with the words “MIA” (Missing In Action)

Meanwhile, a young lady in violet uniform and a recurve bow walked into the conference room. She approached the conference table and sat down on a chair.

She looked quite familiar.

“Lightningbolt?” I asked.

She looked over at me with her emerald-like green eyes. Her soft hair swung to the side.

“Granite?”

“Woah, you remember me?” 

‘Of course I do! You treated me the best among all of the other griffons those days!”

You might ask, how do I know this mare?

It dates back to 7 years ago, 3 years since Tyrant Krossair become King.

-

“The research seemed to be working out fine.”

“Yes. Soon this girl will be as powerful as this one.” A griffon in a lab coat held a picture of the young Princess Celestia with pink mane.

“They look really alike don’t you think?”

I looked at the clipboard.

“Test Subject 0137, Status Stable, Experiments progressing normal.”

I entered the glass room with a push on the unlocked door.

“Hello there, little girl.”

“Granite!” She looked at me with her cute green eyes. Right on the middle of her forehead was a big wound, hacked opened by the scientists here. By the order of Krossair we were to research something about…

Alicorn Magic.

One of the most fundamental and powerful magic of Equestria, the nail in the eye of Krossair. He planned to exploit it to gain him power, to truly become…

The most powerful individual on the planet.

I passed some candies to the girl, and she took it and shoved them into her mouth. She smiled as me sweetly and started humming some tunes. I smiled as well.

Her naive and innocent face always flatters me.

3 months later.

The girl has already got a horn planted onto her forehead, and she could do simple magic like basic telekinesis.

But I wasn’t happy, at all. 

Krossair’s order was to turn the naive, innocent girl into the killing machine he desire, or he’ll kill her. At least that’s what he said. 

And I know, he’d do much more inhumane things to her than “killing” her.

I shudder to the thought.

In the very night right before his order was executed, I headed into the laboratory. I bribed every single man inside the laboratory with piles of cash to keep their beaks shut, and I unlocked the glass chamber door with a key.

“0137, psst. It’s time to go!”

“Huh? But…”

“No buts! You leave, or we die!” I whispered intensely, fearing Krossair would know about my plan, and screw everything up.

I picked her up and hopped on a cargo truck, just outside the research facility. I settled her on the backside of the truck and told her to stay completely still and silent. On the cargo truck were guns and bombs, which should give me an excuse to leave with it.

I drove towards the checkpoint and was halted by some guards.

“What is in there?” One of them asked with their mother tongue.

“AK-47s, RPK-16s, RPG-7s.” I replied in the same language.

He took out a flashlight and hopped onto the cargo truck to look around. I placed my claw on the revolver just in case the plan fails and all hell breaks loose. 

“Why the delay? I am the commander here.”

“Sorry, sir. Standard Procedure. King’s order.” 

I held my breathe, and I could feel sweat dripping from my face as I looked backwards from the small window in the driving bay.

“Alright, you’re good to go.” He looked over to me, a little suspicious, but then returned to his duty.

“Bunch of incompetent wankers.” I yelled, because I had to be consistent with my brutal personality in front of them.

I drove towards the eastern coast through the night, and found a container ship just about to leave the harbour. 

“Listen. Granite can’t help you after this point. Go on the ship and stay in Equestria. Don’t come back, ever.”

“But Granite I want to stay here… with you…”

“Please, girl. Remember, your name from now on is Lightningbolt. Just tell everyone that, and you will be fine. Granite promise, promise to see you there later, okay?” My voice started to shake.

I couldn’t believe for the first time, I cried. Two trails of tears flowed down my face. I couldn’t quite believe that a bad guy like me could feel so emotional over a test subject.

I embraced her in my arms tightly for a moment, before smuggling her onto the ship.

She is smart. She’ll figure out that all I was trying to do, was to save her life.

My phone rang at the time the cargo ship left.

“Hello?”

“Grand! The wankers in the lab lost the test subject! Go and investigate and if you find nothing, I want those useless bastards’ heads on a pike in front of the lab!”

“Roger that.”

-

“So how is your life recently?” I asked her. She is so grown up now.

“My life? Great. My life with the ongoing war? Not really.” 

I was actually quite surprised that she didn’t even ask why a griffon like me appeared in their territory. I guess she did trust me.

“How much magic do you know?”

“Quite a few. I’ve been at the magic academy for quite some time.”

“Good to know.” I felt kind of… nostalgic as I talk with her.

She then looked at the display.

“What happened to Eclipse?” 

“You know him?” I was quite surprised.

“Well, I found him on the street beaten up very badly 2 years back, and now he’s already a great leader.”

I hesitated about whether I should tell her the truth, before I looked at her again.

“Gonna tell you the truth. He stayed at the Empire covering our exfiltration. We lost connection with him.”

“He’s strong! He’ll live!” She suddenly got quite emotional.

I placed a claw on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll get him back.”

I stared at the display for a moment again before asking her.

“Actually…”

“Yes?”

“Have you found someone special in the 7 years you’ve been here?”

She looked at the display as well.

“Well, I haven’t really talked to him much, but I don’t know why I couldn’t stop thinking of this man. And I guess after I left you’ve been good to some other girls?”

So she had a crush on my best partner? It’s quite a small world.

I took out my revolver and rubbed my claw on the engraving on the barrel. The texture doesn’t feel smooth, but kind of sharp and spiky from the sudden rush of emotions.

“Yes. Yes I do. I’m not even sure if she is okay.”

She wrapped a wing around my back. I couldn’t help but smile, along with a trail of tear.

-

One week has passed, and the Princess had not told us to strike Griffonstone yet. All she ordered was to send a task force to scout around the Empire with UAVs.

Honestly, it hadn’t really been a war yet for the previous battles. It was just some small scale military conflict.

Until… A phone call came directly towards 3C from an unknown location.

“Who is this?” I answered the call. Every commander and government authorities were in the very same room with me right now, including a man that claimed to be Eclipse’s brother called Nighthawk.

“Granit Kalashnikov. You forgot something at the Empire didn’t you? How careless of you. Don’t worry, I’ve help you pick that up.” The man’s voice was one I could never forget. The heavy accent and the sly tone. He purposely made his speech sound more dramatic, but I think he just sound like an annoying joker.

“Krossair Zaslavsky.” 

“Haha, you really didn’t forget me now did you?”

“Cut to the chase.” I spoke in a serious tone.

“Just so you know, I am gonna bomb your beloved continent tomorrow. If you want your Captain back, prepare for a great show.”

“Blyat! What do you mean?”

“And I can tell you man, dear Granite, the nation you are currently in couldn’t have produced better sluts and sex slaves! I should have thought about adding that to the trading! Haha! The whore I’m banging right now, is so hot and subjective! You should have stayed and try!”

“What the hell?!”

He switched to hand-free mode, and his microphone was amplified that we could hear what was going on in the room.

A female panting and moaning.

“Crazy bastard!” I yelled.

I tossed the phone down out of frustration and rage. 10 seconds later, the Recon System received some files, send from a signal source that uses the same algorithm. And the only way he could accomplish this…

Is with Eclipse’s transmitter.

Nighthawk and Lightningbolt were perhaps the most stunned, with the Princess, Lannister and me at next.

Those were images, files and a document. 

The images included: A female that resembled our missing man completely naked with wounds all over her being tied up with chains, Eclipse in his rugged uniform, his eyes glowing demonically and his peacoat unbuttoned like some kind of gangster, but scarier. In his hand was the golden pistol that I remembered clearly.

The documents was apparently an experiment report. In which stated that the personality manipulation experiment was a huge success, and that they have now the ability to control someone’s will completely to fit their desire.

But back to the pictures, I found something even more stunning, and spine-chilling.

There was a file full of images, labeled as “Royal Pet”.

At this point I’m quite sure that everyone knows what Krossair meant by that.

I mentally prepared myself before opening the file.

Inside the file was a collection of abusive content. There were syringes of unknown drugs, weird sexually related “toys” as they were mentioned in the images, and the female having an intercoruse with you guessed it, the King himself.

There were even video files which I would only dare to depict as pornography, with heavy fetishes from the King. Bondages, collars, gags and other weird stuff that I don’t know how to describe.

We all knew what was inside the videos, so to avoid mortifying everyone, especially Lightningbolt, of watching an enslaved “man” we know, I didn’t click on it. 

“This is just… insane.” I sighed and leaned backwards on my chair. I’ve ran out of words to describe how morbid and crazy the situation is.

“Princess. This is very serious. If the power of the Shadows were misused…” Nighthawk started, looking very concerned.

“Yes I know, Prince Nighthawk. This is what I fear would happen.” The Princess replied.

“So what do we do now?” Lightningbolt asked desperately.

Lots of discussion and arguing started in the room.

As the rage in my heart started to emerge, I held my claws tight and smacked down on the table hard. The room went silent as their heard the table smacking sound, and all eyes landed towards me.

“Princess! Request permission to strike Griffonstone Empire immediately!” I shouted.

She looked at me for a moment.

“Denied. We cannot risk it. If he does fire missiles towards us, we need you all here to defend.”

“Risk what? Having your best soldier attacking you, with him knowing everything he needed to know to strike this nation and turns the entire continent into glass?” I raged.

“I agree with Granite. He could wipe us out with clones and nukes.” Lannister joined my side.

“Princess, I shall form a task force with Agent Granite, Corporal Sky Lannister and Prince Nighthawk to extract Captain Eclipse and eliminate King Krossair.” Lightningbolt also joined.

“Let’s be more democratic and do a vote. Who agrees to extract the Captain and fight for this nation?” Nighthawk asked loudly, and everyone in the room raised their arms at once.

The Princess looked at us and hesitated a little before giving us her final answer.

“Granted.” She answered simply.

“Let’s get working then. Lannister! Gather the Air Force and Marines! We’re heading to Griffonstone Empire right now!” I instructed.

“Roger that!” We rushed out of the conference room.

We rushed toward Filly Delphia, where one of the major naval base was located. I boarded on a dreadnought and rushed towards the Southeastern coast of the Griffonstone Empire. We boarded an Equestrian Navy dreadnought, to ensure our firepower in case of enemy contact.

Halfway sailing towards the Empire, a naval fleet of the Empire rushed right towards us! It began firing its machine guns towards us, and all around our ship were covered in bullet holes.

“Open fire!” I grabbed a Dragunov sniper rifle and begin shooting down enemy sailors precisely. Malachite stayed beside me with his RPK-16, providing suppressing fire. We tried to kill off as much enemy on board as possible, but the waves of the sea and the wobbling perspective on a ship just wasn’t ideal for accuracy.

The enemy fleet started to shoot missiles at us. I ducked down as a big missile barely missed us and flew right above me. It flew towards the sky far away from us before exploding.

A sailor on our ship passed me an AS50 sniper rifle loaded with explosive rounds.

“Wonderful! Just what I needed!” I took a breathe and got back up, trying my best to aim at the missile launcher on the enemy destroyer. 

As soon as my crosshair of my scope lined up with my target, I pulled the trigger, and the bullet went straight towards the missile loaded inside the launcher. Upon contact, the bullet bursted inside the missile, and the missile launcher burst into flames with a loud bang as it exploded. 

Nighthawk was shielding our dreadnought with magic as we proceeded. His magic was quite stronger than Eclipse, and held up longer than Eclipse could handle.

Talking about magic stuff.

“Railgun ready!” I ordered the rail cannons on the dreadnought to open fire on the enemy destroyer’s weak spot. Since I have read through all the navy vessel design when I was in the Empire, I knew what its weaknesses were.

Now that Eclipse is on Krossair’s side, Malachite and me on Equestria’s side, we have switched sides, and that means we have no secrets to hide from each other. They know our weakness, but so do we.

The railgun on our dreadnought blasted a huge projectile straight towards the enemy destroyer. A cone surrounded the projectile as it did a sonic boom. Upon impact, it punctured a hole on the destroyer body and the ship banked. 

Although being hit and sinking, they charged straight towards us. A dreadnought wasn’t exactly very agile or flexible in close range due to it’s size and weight. The destroyer bashed its bow at our ship, and the griffon sailors boarded like pirates.

“Bunch of uncivilised barbarians!” I pulled out my revolver and fired towards the first few sailors that boarded. Their bodies fell into the deep blue ocean, and the others continued moving in. 

“I’ll distract them on their boat!” Malachite called through the radio. I reloaded my revolver and protected Malachite by sniping down the enemies in his way as he glided towards the enemy destroyer.

“Back the ship away!” He instructed our ship captain. The dreadnought then slowly halted and began to slowly back away.

As we killed off the boarding enemies, Malachite flew out of the destroyer and boarded back onto the dreadnought. Three missiles then slowly ascended into the air and before we knew it, the enemy fleet was hit by the missiles and sank.

As we backed off from the destroyer, Malachite pressed a button on a remote, and the engine of the destroyer exploded immediately. The shockwave that travelled on the water created a big wave and lifted our ship up a metre or two.

As the wave slowly settles and our ship stabilises again, all there was left was a chuck of the enemy dreadnought, rapidly sinking into the deep ocean bottom, as if the ocean itself was engulfing the ship.

“Good kill, Malachite.” I clapped my claws.

“Thanks.” He replied as brief as he always does.

“Cut the chatter. We’ve got to find Eclipse now!” Nighthawk looked over towards us.

-

“Task Force, this is Captain Windspear. After you have approached the Griffonstone Empire, we would not be able to provide you any support. If you think you couldn’t stop him, get the hell outta there.” The radio came a transmission as before we lost connection with the Command Centre.

“Scramblers.” Malachite suggested.

I wasn’t exactly sure if risking all the elite commanding personnel to confront one demon was a good idea. We’re putting all the eggs in the same basket now.

It was surely risky, but we didn’t have a choice.

Nighthawk took lead, as he knew Eclipse the best, and should have the best idea of what we were facing, and I took the role of Second-in-command, as I knew the Empire the best.

We established an improvised camp in an abandoned village. It wasn’t the most elegant, but would do good enough for us. And our mission began right after our settlement.

Our search of our lost men wasn’t quite the challenge, as we already have a rough idea of his area of operation from the files Krossair sent us. The true question is…

Can we defeat him?


	10. Killing Machines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The crooked and controlled Eclipse battled with the Task Force. Although with their effort they failed at defeating the man. In their extraction was an intense battle between the Task Force and the swarm of clones awaiting them.

I smashed the control module repeatedly with the handle of my revolver until the scrambler no longer functions.

“Captain Windspear, this is Task Force. Do you copy, over?”

After some static clearance came a response.

“Task Force, this is Captain Windspear. The Griffonstone Empire had unleashed its weaponry on the Equestria continent and Eclipse is right here attacking us! Wait! Where did he go?” 

What did he mean “Where did he go”?

“Looking for me?” The voice we longed to hear appeared behind of us, although in a not-so longing tone.

We all turned around at the same time.

Eclipse stood there with his demonic glowing eyes staring at the 5 of us coldly. He was covered in blood and dust, and his clothes slightly torn. His face was covered in red and black war paint, which was mostly like blood. 

He was holding a knife that was glowing purple flames and his other hand holding Krossair’s Golden Desert Eagle.

“Keep your guards up. Krossair has him controlled.” I avoid looking at his bright red pupils with the overwhelming evil feel lingering inside me.

“Don’t look him in the eye unless you want an endless loop of your worst nightmare playing in your head.” Nighthawk warned us.

He then started to laugh loudly and wildly.

“So you think you can kill me?”

“Looks like a 5 verses 1 battle to me.” I smirked.

Nighthawk pulled out his sword, which glowed a bright neon blue, which matched his stripes colour. Lightningbolt readied her bow and placed an arrow on it. The bow glowed a white spiralling effect as she took aim.

“Damn you magic-casting bastards.” I chuckled and raised my M500 revolver.

Malachite raised his RPK-16 silently.

‘Let’s start with you, autistic green bird.” He smirked and charged towards Malachite with his knife pointing at him!

My brother may be autistic, but he was surely not dumb! He dodged to the side and returned fire swiftly. The two then begun the battle of shooting and dodging, which Eclipse seemed to execute without breaking a sweat.

I fired my revolver at Eclipse’s shoulder as to stop him, but then Eclipse’s reaction shocked me.

Inhuman reaction!

He… deflected the .500 magnum bullet with his narrow blade…

Without even looking at the bullet!

He backed off a little as he looked at us with an arrogant look.

“The game would finish so quick if I fight you one by one… That’d be a shame. Come on! All five of you!” He taunted at us.

“Let’s do this then!” All five of us charged towards the evil man at the same time.

“Don’t kill him! We need him alive!” I yelled.

He smirked, “I doubt if you can even injure me!”

Lightningbolt fired her arrow towards Eclipse, but he just grabbed it and tossed it on the ground. She then tried to swing her bow towards him, but he blocked it with his knife with ease. He pushed forwards, and Lightningbolt was about to fall, but then rolled backwards and got back up. 

Right after pushing back Lightningbolt, Malachite started firing his RPK-16 towards Eclipse, but the bullets was all deflected by his knife! Even the high fire rate of a light machine gun was no match to Eclipse’s reaction speed.

As Malachite kept him busy, I tried to shoot at this upper arm to disable him, but he seemed to have two minds - He raised his pistol and fired a round, and collided with my bullet! The two 50 caliber pistol bullets smashed together head to head and their heat and velocity caused the two to fuse together. The fused bullet fell to the floor, with blunt ends at each side.

Krossair isn’t just manipulation his own personality…

He added another personality to him!

Lannister decided to take a chance and tossed his own combat knife towards Eclipse. Even if he has two respective minds in his body he would still be occupied enough to be hit…

Right?

He swung his blade upwards, and as his blade collided with the flying knife, it got knocked upwards and flew towards me! I couldn’t react fast enough, and even as I tried to dodge it, it cut me right on my face.

The blade scratched a few centimetres next to my eye and made a wide wound!

“That’s an eye for an eye.” He chuckled as he pointed as at his left eye with his pistol.

“That’s it! Everyone stand down!” Nighthawk order and everyone backed down unscathed.

Wait…

With his power, he could kill us at the very beginning…

But we weren’t hurt the slightest, expect the scratch on my eye…

That means…

He’s trolling us!

As Nighthawk told us to back off, he stepped ahead and gripped on his sword toughly.

“We are only going to stagger each other if we cluster together.” He spoke calmly.

He pointed his sword towards Eclipse, his eye glowed demonically just like Eclipse’s!

“Try me, my brother.” He challenged him with an emotionless tone.

A duel between the two descendants of nightmares.

Eclipse laughed wildly again and raised his knife, pointing at Nighthawk.

Nighthawk stared at the knife he was pointed with, and the two started to walked in circle, anti-clockwise, step by step. Eclipse looked super confident and evil, while Nighthawk looked very serious and calm.

All seemed calmed for a moment, until one side decided to strike!

Nighthawk stretched his wing and dashed forward, his blade pointing straight towards his brother. Eclipse dodged to the side and attempted to stab Nighthawk on the back, but he dropped to the ground and dodged it.

When Nighthawk got back up again, he swiped his blade, and Eclipse blocked it. The two brothers began to swing their blades together, and the sounds of flames burning and metallic collision filled the air around us.

The purple and neon blue flames blended together as the two blades touched, creating a dangerously fabulous colour.

Nighthawk took a few small cuts and another deeper bleeding wound as the combat continued. Eclipse, took no damage at all.

“Haha, my brother… You’ve grew stronger.” Nighthawk chuckled as he backed a step away, taking a breathe.

“How nice of you. And I guess I shall show you who’s the real King of the Shadow Realm.”

The two continued to fight. Eclipse was clearly dominating the battle as Nighthawk continued to play defensively. Eclipse struck down on Nighthawk hard with every swing, as if every swing was his final swing.

After a few minutes of intense battle, Nighthawk already took a lot of hits and his shiny armour plates was covered in streams of blood. Eclipse took the opportunity of his brother’s weakening defence and smacked him right in his face.

Nighthawk fell down from Eclipse’s punch, and Eclipse pinned him down by pushing him down with his left hand, which he freed by sheathing his pistol. He held his long knife backhanded and pointed the blade straight down at Nighthawk’s chest.

“Goodbye, my brother.” He laughed in an evil tone.

In the critical moment, I fired a shot towards Eclipse’s left wing. Since the still-alive wing was not armoured, he had to block the bullet, turning his focus away. Nighthawk gripped his sword hard and swung it in front of Eclipse chest as he turned away!

“Ahh! Damn!” Eclipse jumped off as blood started to pour down from his chest. It was a wide cut, but it wasn’t deep. He’d live as long as he doesn’t go and drain his blood.

He jumped back a bit, before he pressed on his wound with his left hand.

And then he laughed wildly again.

“HAHAHA! It’s been fun playing with you guys. I hope we shall meet again very soon!”

With that, he disappeared with a flash of light.

“Nighthawk!” I rushed towards the injured prince. “Are you alright?”

He coughed, “Yeah, I’m alright.” He got back up and sheathed his sword.

“Captain Windspear, this is Task Force. Do you copy, over?” Lannister asked through the radio.

“Task Force, this is Captain Windspear. The three coast cities were already taken by the Griffonstone Empire Forces! We need you all back here now!” 

Oh no.

-

We snatched a fast boat to rush all the way back to Eastern Equestrian, and we got back to the harbour where we left for the Griffonstone Empire.

At least, what’s left of it.

They had attacked the naval base without notice. And rather than a small scale battle between the Equestrian Royal Air Force and the United Forces of Griffonstone Empire became a full on war between

“So what do we do now?” Lightningbolt looked around this wrecked city.

“Report back to 3C first, I suppose.” I suggested.

“But how? You guys can’t teleport.” Nighthawk objected.

“Hawk, you head back to 3C first. We’ll catch up.” I told him, and he nodded.

“Don’t fly. They have auto-target planes in the air.” He pointed to the sky at an Empire jet.

“Roger that. See you on the other side.” He teleported with a puff of black smoke.

The rest of us rushed towards a train terminal, as the railway system as the shortest path towards central Equestria.

“Damn it! It’ll take days to fly back! Let alone walk or run!” I looked at the endlessly stretching rail towards the faint silhouette of the Central Mountain, where Canterlot was build upon.

“I think I have an idea!” Lightningbolt yelled as she pointed at a black steam locomotive sitting in a dome shaped structure, hooked up to a cart full of coal.

“That’s the locomotive for exhibition! I bet it still runs!” Lannister rushed towards the locomotive, and started inspecting the steam engine.

I hopped onto the locomotive, skilfully fidgeting some switches and control, and the breaks on the gears and wheels loosened. The train slowly rolled forward as its wheels was released.

“Granite? You know how to drive this?” Lannister asked as he observed.

“That’s the days when I live on minimal wage.” I chuckled, as I shoved in some charcoal into the burner underneath the boiler with a shade jabbed into the charcoal.

“How do we light this up?” My biggest question was being asked by Lannister.

“Stand back!” Lightningbolt nudged me, and stepped forward. She took out an arrow with a yellow arrow head from a strap on the quiver quiver and stabbed it hard onto the dark charcoal. The arrow head lit on fire as it made contact with the charcoal, and within seconds the entire pile of fuel started combusting, and burning nicely.

“Nicely done, girl.” I complimented.

She giggled, “I’m not your girl anymore, Grand. But thanks, though.”

“Incoming!” Lannister screamed as he looked forward. I looked over to the front, and a swarm of clones came rushing towards us!

“Bolt! You did evacuate everyone in Equestria to the North right?” I asked as I raised my rifle.

“Everyone in the East and Central!” She took aim with a marksman sight on her recurve bow.

“Good! Then everyone is hostile! If it moves, shoot it!” I opened fire and the clones started to return fire. The train was made of reinforced steel to withstand the environment and continuous use, so it should help block some bullets.

But at the other side, it adds weight to the engine, making its acceleration slower.

“Defend the engine! It’ll take a while for the water to boil!” 

Metal collision sounds rained in front of us onto the engine. I ducked down to avoid being hit by the ricocheting metal pieces of death.

Malachite climbed up to the roof of the locomotive and sprayed bullets down with both his RPK-16 and M4 Carbine. The deafening sound of gun fire and the trickling sounds of bullet shells dropping and bouncing off the roof above us.

I blind fired with the cover of the locomotive body and checked on the gauges.

“85 degrees! Just a while more!” I carefully took my aim as I returned fire now, because after the train moves, we won’t get much bullets to shoot.

I started to push on the throttle and the train slowly began to pick up with speed. The train’s gears rolled along the steel railroad and squeaks loudly. This piece of old junk really haven’t been moving for years.

“Come on, faster, you old piece of crap!” I pushed the throttle to max. Malachite swung himself down into the quite crowded driver cab.

“How long will this take for us to reach Canterlot?” I asked. 

“2 hours, 1 and a half without stopping.” Lannister replied.

“Then hold on everyone! This is gonna be one hell of a ride!” I wasn’t joking. I was expecting swarms of clones to come charging at us.

The train slowly reached a workable speed. I told everyone to duck down and avoid returning fire, as we didn’t have much ammunition to work with. 

I could hear jeeps and other vehicles driving along side with us. The train’s top speed should be able to outrun those clone’s bumpy ride down on the field. 

The smooth ride suddenly came to a violent bump, and we bounced backwards to the recoil. The train apparently just crashed towards some stupid clones that stood in the way of our train. I took a look forward, only to see the locomotive’s polished black paint surface coated with a red smear.

But then, a high-pitched hum came from the sky straight towards us!

“Enemy aircraft!” Malachite alarmed us.

“Don’t bother! Our 7.62s won’t go through those armour plates!”

It was an Su-24 jet coming straight for us! 

In this dusty badlands, where mammals fight their own battles, came a screaming eagle to strike on those who failed to protect themselves. 

The jet doesn’t seemed to be aggressive at first, until a mountain came into sight, which it seemed to be right behind us and ready to climb up, to capture us inside the tunnel. The jeeps around began to open fire right towards the locomotive’s water tank! .50 BMG rounds would pierce through the steel wall eventually if we don’t stop the attack!

As if the situation wasn’t already bad enough, a jeep came rushing towards us and with a reinforced tow cable, anchored their position relative to ours!

“What the hell! We’re gonna derail!” I screamed. 

I pulled out my magnum revolver and placed a shot onto the gunner’s exposed skull. With around one-minute’s distance to the tunnel, I leaped over the locomotive and onto the jeep. The driver wanted to fight back, but the task force was smart. Lightningbolt pinned his arm onto the seat and his paw on the gas.

With this brief moment that I have, I dismantled the lazily-mounted machine gun and tossed it onto the fuel cart of the train. Just two bolts unscrewed and the machine gun is off the rack. It was at least 50 kilograms heavy, but I could handle it. I then threw the ammo box towards the train as well.

We still have around a 20-second distance before reaching the tunnel. I unhooked the tow cable with relative ease, and flung it towards the soaring Su-34. 

With 10 seconds before impact, I stood on the roof of the jeep, checking my back to see when will we impact. Since the driver has lost control over the jeep, it started to bank away from the locomotive.

“Grand! Come back!” They yelled.

5 seconds.

“Grand!”

3 seconds!

“Granite!”

Using the cable’s tension towards the Su-34, I swung towards the locomotive right before the jeep crashed and we entered the tunnel. I quickly locked the tow cable onto the train’s tow hook.

With a sudden slow down, it was a magnified tug of war between two powerful machine. But since the jet was flying on the very edge of minimum flight speed before falling, our locomotive was speeding fast enough to out run it. 

The speed gauge on the locomotive suggested a speed of around 200 kilometres per hour. Equestrian technology was truly epic. As far as I know, the jet was modified with an upward lifting assist, allowing lower flight speed without crashing to the ground.

Which means, speed was no longer a factor in the tug.

The locomotive’s 140 metric tons’ weight has a significant advantage in energy over the jet’s 14 tons. The tow cable was made to tow massive cruise ship and container ships, and it held up to the tension.

The locomotive’s energy won over the jet, and the jet was now being tugged towards the tunnel.

And after an explosion, we entered the tunnel safely, and the jet blew up right behind us at the small tunnel.

“Impressive.” Lightningbolt nudged me.

“Just something I learned in the past. I know quite some technical knowledge when I was still towing things as a locomotive driver.” I chuckled.

Malachite grabbed some steel dowels and with some nuts, secured the gun onto the train.

“How didn’t they blow up the tracks?” Lannister questioned.

“Simple. Krossair wasn’t planning to just cause massacre and kill everybody. He was planning to have his butt stick right onto the throne in Canterlot.” 

Everyone went quiet for a moment in the tunnel. We spoke nothing inside the dark concrete arc. The only sounds we could hear were the winds blowing right besides us, and the old engine’s rumbling noise.

As we exited the long tunnel, the sight was shocking. All the recognisable civilisation came trails of black smoke, and every thing was wrecked. 

I looked forward as I poked my head out the steel frame of the cab. The Canterlot Central Train Terminal should be near, as the Canterlot mountain was already in sight. 

“Everything I love burns.” Lannister sighed.

Lightningbolt wrapped her wing around his back to comfort him.

Sometimes I really don’t understand. 

What is defined as “patriotic”?

The ultranationalist like me? Or soldiers like Lannister?

I couldn’t help but to ask myself this question.

Is this what my country had become? To kill because they can?

The remaining clones behind us fell as Malachite gunned them down with the .50 calibre machine gun I scavenged. 

-

Surprisingly, on our way towards Canterlot, we didn’t find a single enemy.

However, I had a bad feeling about our… “False Safety”.

They could be trying to lead us into thinking that we’re safe, and when we’re not expecting, kill us.

“Keep an eye out for ambush.” I reminded the task force.

The train arrived right at the train terminal at the foot of the mountain. The terminal still looks very tidy and unharmed.

But now we would have to walk up the mountain. The Air Force was smart, they cut off the railway in case the enemy made their way up to the actual city.

As we walked out of the terminal and began our running to the top of the mountain, it proved my prediction. Swarms of clones were waiting for us on the walkway!

I rushed ahead and began firing, covering the team behind me. The walkway was quite wide for a few people to walk on at the same time, but still narrow enough for me to…

Shove them off the side!

I’ve already figured out their attack pattern: Fire at longer range, and melee in short range. I improvised a bayonet onto my AK-47 and taking advantage of my physical strength, pushed the clones off to the side of the mountain, which they would then fall to their death.

I guess we should be thankful that Krossair wasn’t competent enough to programme flight patterns into the clones, or else it would be so much harder for us to push forward.

As I continued fighting, I felt a dose of adrenaline rushing inside me, and I went full berserk with my attacks. Using my bare, scythe-shaped razor sharp claws, clawed our way through the heavy enemy resistance.

Loud screeches could be heard echoing in the mountains, as I brute forced our way through, I screamed and screeched like a bald eagle soaring in the skies, hunting down its prey.

With each slash and scratch, their blood spilled onto my body and my feathers. Spots of deep red liquids began to stain on my pale feldspar-coloured feathers, adding another shade of red colour to my body. 

Even with their knives and blades swinging in front of me, I didn’t stop proceeding. I used my claws, my legs, my wings and my back to shove those pests off the side of the tall mountain.

Malachite and Lannister fired on the clones to weaken them as I bust through, and Lightningbolt grabbed them and tossed them away with her magic aura. I was injured in multiple parts of my body, but surges of endorphins dulled my pain, and during the fight, I seemed to have forgot everything else.

Perhaps, that is the true instincts of a griffon. Aggressive as eagles and lions. As persistent as an eagle, as brutal as a lion. But that’s just what griffons are: A hybrid of an eagle and a lion. We were meant to be bloodthirsty predators.

And as bloodthirsty as my ancestors were, I began attacking with my beak as well. I was born with a serrated beak, which acted like hacksaws as I bit on their flesh, tearing through their tissues like hot knife cutting butter.

I could hear gunshots as we neared the city gate of Canterlot. Multiple armed personnel pointing their firearms at me.

“Friendlies! Cease fire! Cease fire!” One yelled as he looked at us.

It was then, I finally slowed down and calmed down. I shook myself awake, as my normal self returned from the killing streak.

“Agent Granite, Captain Windspear is expecting you and the task force in the castle.”

“Roger that. Thanks for the assist.” 

“Do you need uhh… a towel maybe, sir?”

“That would be best.” I looked downwards at my claws and chest, which are covered in blood. I probably looked quite scary that time. I quickly gave my face and body a quick wipe with a soft towel, and the towel was already soaked in dark red blood. 

We then proceed towards 3C, Canterlot Command Centre, located in the castle. As we walked past the observatory deck, we looked outside, at the deserted landscape around the continent. 

A man approached us in a wheelchair, an SMG on his laps. 

“Captain Windspear.” Lannister saluted.

“Glad you all made it back. We were starting to worry if you’ll get stranded out there.”

“Far from that. Any update on our man?” I asked.

“Somewhere in Central Equestria. We weren’t able to lock on to his position, but we have updates on their next target towards attacking the Southern Equestria Tribe.

“That place full of barbarians?”

“Not exactly barbarians, but they proclaimed independence from Equestrian ruling, although still widely known as the Southern Equestria Tribes, they call themselves the Drënners, Freelancers.”

“So you reckon we can find him there?”

“No guarantee, but you’re welcomed to try.”

“How’s our nation doing?”

“It’s a losing battle. Krossair was quite wise to capture Eclipse, I’ll give him that. Now that they knew everything about our defence, and have one of our most elite soldier, it’s only a matter of time.”

“Have we evacuated the civilians?”

“Most of them. Some are still in the Crystal Empire, while others had been extracted towards the Shadow Realm. Nighthawk returned to the Realm to help settle the refugees. He’ll return soon.”

“How about you, Captain? When are you leaving?”

“No, I’m staying here. I was born here, and I shall die here, if I have to.” 

“You’re quite mad, Captain.” I chuckled.

“All of us are.”


	11. War Chief, Warlord.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eclipse's mind was being manipulated, leaving Granite the responsibility to retake Equestria. As the team searched for Eclipse , they met a new ally, hiding for long in the southern province of Equestria.

“This is it my dear General. You’ve done quite well.” A griffon sat on the throne of the Canterlot castle.

“Thank you, my King.” The man in a messy, slashed Royal Air Force uniform kneeled in front of the griffon. His eyes were no longer smoking, but his eyes were different. An orange pupil on his left eye and a bluish purple pupil on his right eye.

A distinctive and physical symbol of his double personality.

His original patriotic, kind-hearted self was buried underneath his new, brutal, warmonger personality. Under Krossair’s influence, he seemed to have sold his soul to the evil affairs of Krossair.

“I’m thinking about striking someplace on the continent.”

“Just point it on the map, my King. I will take it.”

The griffon’s talon tapped on the map, its sharp tip denting the paper a little.

“I want these uncivilised barbarians bow to me. Then, you can have it.”

“Hmph.” Eclipse stood up, and inspected the gold-plated Desert Eagle Krossair gave him…

or them.

The inner true self of Eclipse was suppressed by the new personality fitted in him by Krossair.

“I really don’t understand. My previous arch-nemesis fell in love with my test subject? Hah, preposterous.” With the power of Eclipse’s tanto, he knew quite a lot of things that he wanted to know.

“No sir. I shall eliminate her, as long as you give the words.” He sounded quite emotionless and cold-blooded as he spoke. 

“Need not. I have better plans.” 

The King laughed loudly and wildly, before looking at Eclipse with his erotic expression. He grabbed the device he made before, and fired it towards Eclipse, turning him into a female again.

“Now, as you are so obedient, you sure deserve some reward.” He grinned.

The crooked personality within Eclipse was engaged. Without any resistant, she began undressing herself in front of the king, and did as the king ordered her to do so.

-

“Captain Windspear, do you copy?” I desperately tried to contact him.

“Looking for you beloved Captain?” A familiar response.

“Eclipse! What have you done?!” I growled.

“Oh, don’t worry, he’s fine. But I doubt if you are the same.” He laughed.

“Where are you?!” I asked with rage.

“Where your Captain told you to go. The Drënners.”

“Wait and see, bastard.”

“Good luck then.” 

We were positioned in the Macintosh Hills, the mountains that separated the United Empire of Equestria and the Southern Equestria Tribes.

Somewhere between the southern badlands and the tropical jungle, lies the tribe of the Drënners, the freelancers. 

We observed as the Griffonstone Empire Army marched towards the the south, while most of the soldiers in the army are clones. 

We glided through the sky straight towards the tribe’s territory.

“Let’s get the party started, shall we?” 

As we landed in front of a formation of the tribal warriors, the clones already neared their defence.

“Who are you!” One young man pointed his trident at me.

“Calm down. We’re here to help.”

“The Drënners need no help from the Empire.”

“You have no idea what you are facing!”

Out of our expectation, one of them spoke to me in my language.

“I’ll talk with him.” She said, as she wielded her Beretta 92 pistol and a pouch on her side. She looked like a medic, and a bartender. 

The two talked for a moment.

“Fine. You can stay and help.” The man with the trident spoke as he looked forward at the incoming forces. 

I raised my rifle, and the task force looked forward as well. 

“Listen. Kill everybody, except their leader. We’ll need them.” I instructed.

“Fine.”

The young man has a big feather headgear, which I have no idea what that’s called, but it definitely meant that he’s a leader.

“Here they come!” A warrior yelled as the clones rushed towards our defence. Looking at their ancient looking melee weapons, I was quite worried at first.

At first, we only see swarms of clones rushing towards us with guns, which Nighthawk casted a barrier spell and shielded us from the gunfire. 

I dodged behind a concrete block as I knew Nighthawk’s spell wouldn’t last forever. I sprayed lead down range and hitting the clones, while the Drënners fought back in melee range. They seemed to be holding up quite well.

I tossed a grenade to soften up their attack. But then, soldiers with shields and heavily-armoured gunners began moving in. Lightningbolt used her armour-penetrating arrows to bust through their heavily armour, while Malachite and I instructed the warriors to retreat and plan for a better attack.

Lightningbolt retreated as well, white Nighthawk held the clones back.

“The clones are the last thing we need to worry about. We need to stop Eclipse’s berserk and wake him from his madness!” Lightningbolt spoke.

“I have something that may help you.” The medic spoke, as she opened her pouch and began digging through her arsenal. 

She then took out 3 syringes, still brand new and in a sealed packing.  
“Tranquillisers. This should calm him down.” She passed the syringes towards Lightningbolt.

“But how about his personality manipulation?” Lightningbolt asked again.

“I’m no expert in psychology, but I did heard about soldiers suffering from PTSDs and other mental disorders. I do have some assumptions. As long as we can calm him down, we can maybe reactivate his original personality and restore him.”

“How do you know so much about this?”

“Equestrian Royal Marines, Specialist Apple Ale.” She responded.

“Alright. We shall give it a shot then.”

-

I took the syringes and replaced the arrow tips with the syringes. This is the only chance we have to save him from the curse of Krossair.

Nighthawk backtracked to our position as he fought off the last of the clones. He swung his flaming blade at the black feather clones, and the clones fell backwards like dominos.

“Come on, Lightningbolt. Whatever plan you have come up with, it’s time to use it!” Nighthawk yelled.

I lodged the syringe arrow onto the bow and pulled on the polyethylene bow string. As I took aim with the marksmen scope in the recurve bow, the bow limbs started to glow a yellowish aura that spiralled around the bow, instead of the usual white.

“Same plan. Two distractions, I’ll take the third shot.” I spoke softly. The Kalashnikov brothers nodded as they pulled their weapons and hopped out from both sides of Eclipse.

As usual, we take advantage of Eclipse’s arrogance to lead him to a false sense of security. 

Granite jumped out with his M500 revolver and Malachite hopped out with his RPK-16. Eclipse then shot Granite’s bullets down while deflecting Malachite’s bullets off, leaving his front vulnerable. 

I took advantage of his vulnerability and released my finger, letting the arrow fly straight towards him. The arrow landed on the right side of his neck, right on his aorta.

“Yes, first shot!” 

“Not so fast. The effect needs sometime to kick in.” Apple Ale stopped me. 

As the Kalashnikovs were defeated and fell back, Eclipse approached us again. He promptly pulled the syringe-tipped arrow off his neck, and tossed it onto the ground.

The young man with the trident started to dance in circles, while raising his trident.

“What is he doing?” I asked. 

“You’ll see.” Apple Ale whispered to me.

As Eclipse approached us, gusts of winds began to blow vigorously, rolling up sands on the ground, creating a sandstorm.

“Now go!” The young man yelled.

With the low visibility, we took advantage to retreat before he could reach us.

“It’s not gonna work! Retreat now!” Granite yelled as he pushed Eclipse off him and began moving backwards. He was far less powerful as the evil Eclipse. 

I flung my bow to my back and mounted it on my back. We ran towards the west while Eclipse lurked and pursued us from behind. A trail of dripping blood moisten the sand underneath Granite.

“Down the dune! Move it!” Granite yelled again, and I could feel the sand underneath me started to slide downwards and we were descending. We slid down the dune, only to realise it was a mistake.

At the end of the dune, was a huge gorge!

“Extend your wings!” Granite’s voice was barely hearable from the noise of the wind. As we fell, I grabbed on Apple Ale and opened my winds, since she doesn’t have wings.

The sandstorm was above the gorge, and the gorges looked dark with the sands blocking out the sunlight. Our falling didn’t slow down, which I couldn't react quick enough, and turned my back towards the ground.

After an impact, my vision went black in an instant.

-

“Hey! You alright?” I opened my eyes as I heard nosies.

In my vision, was a lion’s face looking straight down at me.

“Ahh hell!” I quickly crawled backwards, panicking.

“Hey, hey! Calm down. They’re here to help.” A young male voice spoke. I looked over at the direction the voice came from, and there stood the man with a trident and a massive feather headgear.

He was sitting with a lion and a lioness, and was combing the lion’s mane. 

“What happened?” I asked, confused.

“You fell on your back pretty hard.” Apple Ale responded, “I’m surprised that you didn’t break your bones. Thanks for saving me, though.” She sat next to me.

“What’s with the lions?” I asked.

“They protected us from the clones as we retreated.” 

“Actually, who are you?” I asked the question we all wanted to ask since we first met.

“I am the son of the previous chief of this tribe. My father died in the war with the Empire which gain independence for the tribe. Honestly I support the tribe uniting with the Empire, but my people think otherwise.” He explained.

“I mean, what’s your name?”

“I have no idea. They all ended up calling me Trident, as I now wield my father’s weapon.”

“So aren’t you the chief now?”

“In the old times when tribes clashes and fights, the chief often gain their prestige and honour through the battles. Now as we are the remaining tribe still stand, I hope to revolutionise the battle spirit and seek peace. However, I must become a true Tribal Chief before they would truly trust me in my ideology.”

“You way more civilised and intelligent that we first expected. And I assume you can join in the battle? We can help each other.”

“Magnificent.” 

“What about you, Apple Ale? You don’t seem quite as… the same as the tribe.”

“What? Me? Oh yes. I used to be a military medic in the Royal Marine Corps. I had chances to work in multiple special forces and special operations. That time with the Royal Guards Specials, we were marching through a deserted area…”

She began to tell us her story.

-

The Badlands, 200 kilometres South of Macintosh Hills, 3 years before present day.

“Keep an eye out for militia movements.” The Legate warned us.

I held my Beretta 92 pistol tight in my hands as we moved.

“Tell me why the Marines aren’t doing this again?”

“They’re deployed in the harbour, in case everything goes haywire and the griffons starts shooting at us.” 

Our speech was soon interrupted by a vigorous explosion in the head of the team, not far in the distance. The soldiers in armour were blasted back by the shockwave, and the sound of armours hitting the armour was distinctive.

“Mines!” I warned, as the unharmed soldiers rushed forward and aided those affected by the explosion.

I moved along the soldiers, helping soldiers stop their bleeding and removing shrapnel. Without much resources, I improvised some fixture for their broken bones and limbs with some spears.

“Spread out and counter attack!” The Legate yelled. Waves of enemies came charging towards us with melee weapons.

I dodged behind some boulders as I returned fire with my pistol. Despite my efforts of defending the attack, it was after all still only a pistol. The damage I could put out was not enough, and the squad began to fallback.

Their attack was too fast for us to effectively counter, and I could hear explosions and soldiers screaming in pain every now and then. I knew we were in a bad position.

The Legate stood his ground as he swung his battle axe towards the enemy. He was wearing light armour, and was suffering huge impacts from the enemy attack. I quickly run up towards him and fired at the enemy, which they fled.

“Legate! You holding up?” I opened my side pouch and look for the appropriate first aid tools. “I told the congress attacking is a bad idea!”

“Need not.” He swung a hand and stood up again. “Follow me. I’ll get you out alive.”

The winds began to blow harder, rolling up sands and dust to fill the air, severely lowering our visibility.

I followed behind the Legate closely. I released the magazine on my pistol, letting it drop on the ground, then quickly slipping a fresh one back onto the pistol.

“Move quickly!” We began running. Most of the soldiers in the field are either blown up or slain. However, the enemies seemed to know that we were still alive, and continued their pursuit.

Our running suddenly came to a halt as an unknown object propped up from the ground right in front of us. 

“Mines! Down!” The Legate pushed me to the side and leaped between me and the mine.

I didn’t even see flashes from the explosion.

I wanted to keep running, but I couldn’t feel my legs.

The Legate? I lost sight of him.

Soon, some of the enemies surrounded me, and carried me away. I didn’t think much about my fate, or where I was going. 

It wasn’t until almost a day later that I realised that I was saved my my supposed “enemies”. The operation was to take down the tribe in the South to unite the North and the South of the Empire, but was a total failure. The previous chief of the tribe wanted to gain independence from the Empire, and therefore the conflict happened.

The chief of the tribe was killed by the Legate, but the Legate was never heard for ever again. The remaining warriors however, returned a trident to the son of the chief.

As for me, they let me stay and helped my legs recover, while I work in the tribe as a medic and a bartender, making brews and drinks.

-

“So this is why I saw your name in the board.” Lannister seemed to know something.

“You’re a Royal Guard?”

“Used to be. Before my brother died, I was a Royal Guard. They seemed to think you are dead.” He leaned against the lion.

“Speaking of brother… Where’s Granite?” I looked around, worried. He was bleeding like a bottle of soda spewing from the top before we fell down the gorge.

“Calm down. He’s unconscious, but he’s stable.” She pointed at a tree. Under the shades was Granite lying down motionlessly. “He might have smacked his head on the floor too hard.”

Malachite was sitting right next to Granite. He seemed to have ignored everything else except for his brother. Granite’s wounds were carefully bandaged and treated.

“We need a better plan. Our sheer strength is no match against the uncontrollable mind of Eclipse.” I pointed out.

“We can engage him in the village. With enough distractions and obstacles, it should provide us enough time for the syringe’s effect to take place, and restrain him.”

“Good. After everyone recovers, we’ll strike again.”

I walked towards Granite and Malachite. Malachite didn’t seem to notice me at first, but a while later, he fiddled around with Granite’s gear.

He then raised a claw towards me. In his claw was a shiny, silver chrome revolver with a scope on top of the barrel. The barrel was wide and engraved, giving a distinct texture as I run my finger on the barrel.

Granite’s very own weapon, and his symbol for his love, his sins, and his redemptions.

I didn’t quite know what to do at first, but Malachite nudged me a little with the revolver, its handle pointing towards me. I took the revolver and held it in my hand.

For someone like me that never use a firearm, or heavy weapons for that matter, it was heavy. But now, it’s not only because of its size and material, but because…

Granite is the kind of people I treat as brother since I was small.


	12. Darkness Returns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last attempt of putting Eclipse down under control was a failure, and time was running short. Will the third time be a charm for the team?

“Third time’s a charm.” I smirked.

“Hope so. You only got two chances left.” Apple Ale pointed at my syringe-tipped arrows strapped on my quiver.

“We can’t afford to lose more men. Without the toughest soldier among us fighting, it’ll be even harder to combat him. We need to play it smart.”

“Bolt. If he tried to kill you, you have to kill him. It’s you or him.” Malachite spoke. He was looking away from us and as if he was talking to himself, but I understand he was talking to me. 

We settled Granite inside a hut. No offence, but we left the weakest among us - Corporal Sky Lannister to take care of him. 

“What if he takes the opportunity and kill him?” Malachite didn’t speak, but he was looking at me with a face that expressed that sentence.

“Don’t worry. He won’t.” I looked back at him. Of all these time he could kill Granite, he didn’t. I was showing complete trust towards the kid. Malachite didn’t reply, and I wasn’t really sure if he trust the kid as well.

“So if what Granite said was accurate, Krossair would be commanding Eclipse to enslave the tribe. So he must be capturing warriors of the Drënners. Let’s start with the village.” I took lead of the new, but crippled Task Force.

“Nighthawk, you’re the only one who can counteract on his power. You’ll take him on.”

“Malachite, cover fire.”

“Trident, free your warriors and distract him. Apple Ale, you help the injured warriors.”

Eclipse, now became a Warlord.

“Task Force, this is Command Centre in Shadow Realm. Do you copy?” Transmissions came from the radio, which I picked up.

“Affirmative. Awaiting Advise.”

“Task Force, the enemy are overwriting the security system in Equestria. Time is not on our side. Intel shows that Eclipse is gathering exiled enemy soldiers and clones in a local abandoned town.”

“Roger that Command. We’ll get him back alive, and stop Krossair.”

“Good luck, task force. Command out.”

I gathered the task force to come up with a plan. Without Granite, we would have to rely more on careful planning to take our target down.

“What does the security look like?”

“Local triggermen, exiled soldiers and clones in an open town.”

“We’ll stick out from the crowd for sure.”

“I guess we’ll just kick in the front door then. Take a break guys, a big fight awaits us.”

-

The town ahead was a moderate-sized, fairly developed area. Mostly consisting of housings and bungalows, our plan was to bust in the main gate of the village entrance, then sweep through the village straight to his doorstep.

The lions that Trident had carried Trident, me and Apple Ale, while the others either flew, or proceeded on foot. We covered them with some bullet resistant materials to protect them from the gunfights we were sure to expect.

Lannister and Malachite scouted ahead. 

“Squad Lead, this is Lannister, they have been alerted to your preexistence. Be ready to engage.”

“Roger that. Lannister, Malachite, air support. The rest, move up!”

I rode on the back of the lion that I first met. He seemed to understand our language.

“Stabilise!” I commanded him. His steps maintained its speed, while his back tensed up to give me a less rough ride. I tilted to the right while I drew an arrow tipped with an explosive head. 

I let go of the bow string, and the arrow busted the lock on the gate ahead.

“CHARGE!”

The lion leapt ahead and pushed the gate open. I continued to fire my arrows while Trident swung his weapon at the incoming enemies. 

“Everybody grab a firearm!” I advised as more enemies arrived.

I took a pistol from a dead enemy, as it was the only weapon with a manageable recoil for me. 

We dismounted the lions, and they started to attack. Quite some enemies were shocked and panicked of the raging beasts, which made them lose their focus and cohesion. Just as we’ve planned.

With the enemies staggered, I quickly executed them. Trident was sweeping those housings and began to free the prisoners of war, the warriors.

At first our progress was slow as we were outnumbered, but as we freed more and more of the warriors, the tides started to turn, and we gained an advantage over the enemies. 

There had been a few close calls of me being shot, but the lion always leap ahead and took the bullet for me. His facial expression showed great pain, but he never backed down as he pawed and bit anyone who dared to cross him.

Gunshots came from the sky as Lannister and Malachite fired on the ground targets. Their figures flashed across our view, and the enemies ahead stopped moving.

“Area clear!” Lannister reported in.

“Keep your guard up.”

I saw a quick glimpse of reflection ahead of us, on the tallest structure.

“Sniper!” Lannister yelled, and he screamed painfully. The sniper had taken his shot, and Lannister was hit.

As he fall out of the sky, I instinctively rushed ahead to catch him before he turn into a red smear on the floor. Just as I was about to leap up and catch him, a green shadow dashed towards him and grabbed him by his waist.

Malachite gracefully landed towards a walled lane, behind cover and out of the sniper’s sightline.

Lannister seemed to not believe it at first, but a “Thank you” from him showed his appreciation of his life saver.

“Good job, Malachite.” I met up with the two of them. I was relieved to see that Malachite chose to trust the kid.

I examined Lannister’s wound. On his left arm, there was a bullet wound, right on the badge of the Special Air Service Regiment, between the wings and on the knife blade, dead centre.

I pried the bullet out. “762” Malachite immediately recognised the calibre of the bullet.

“Celestia’s sake…” I already know who the sniper was, with such accuracy, there could only be one.

I heard more screams. There wasn’t a distinct gunshot, but three of the warriors were hit within a second, at the same exact place on their arms.

“Get behind cover!” I ordered everyone.

I peeked from the wall towards the street. From a door way, a yellow and blue coloured suppressor poked out. Followed by deep, steady steps, the sniper stepped out. On his right thigh, a golden pistol shined as it reflected the sunlight. He surely knew how many of us were hiding just in the alleyway. 

He did not panic or rage, just as we expected.

“Come out. I know you’re there.” A cold, hard tone.

He began slowly walking down the street. I was waiting for the perfect moment to strike. My fingers rubbing on the smooth and tensely twisted polyethylene bowstring, with the syringe-tipped arrow lodged on the bow limb, and gripping on the end of the arrow tightly.

He slowly approached the alleyway. We held our breath was his looks his step closer.

I pulled the bowstring and readied to release the arrow.

A gunshot from the distance pulled Eclipse’s attention away. Apple Ale pulled the trigger on her Beretta 92 pistol. Malachite hopped out and jabbed a device onto the wing of Eclipse. The device was arcing a pulse of white and blue electricity, and the mech wings seized and was disabled.

Without the projector barrier, he would have one less trouble to deal with. Malachite then hopped forward and front rolled away from Eclipse, out of his eyesight. I stepped out to the street and tried to put a shot towards his exposed body parts again.

However, he once again, stopped the arrow. But with a blast, literally.

He raised his hand in front of the arrow, and the syringe exploded into pieces of fractured glass in mid air!

Centimetres away from contact!

I moved away from the hut and the outer border, and Nighthawk took a step frontwards. He swung his neon blue flaming sword and the two combatted. Trident joined in the fight right as he finished his part of rescuing the warriors. Apple Ale on the other hand started to treat the wounded warriors.

He may be young, but he was good at fighting! He was standing at a moderate height for his age, but he was very nimble at striking and dodging attacks, even with a long, unbendable two-handed weapon in his hands.

Nighthawk and Trident were fighting the common enemy individually at first, but then they began to coordinate their attacks. Without the aid of words, it was as if they have a communication in mind.

Whenever Nighthawk strike Eclipse from the top, Trident would correspond with a attack from below. Eclipse may have 5 limbs and 2 minds to counteract the fierce attack, but was still forced to play it defensively.

I shot arrows towards him as well. His reflexes maybe faster than my arrows, but the two close quarter attacks were faster!

The battle continued and Malachite knew he couldn’t do much helping out the fight, so he went to to help Apple Ale. Down to my last tranquilliser arrow, I knew I have to change my strategy to make the shot count.

The problem with a long lasting battle, is that one element slowly emerges to affect the result: stamina. Nighthawk and Eclipse may have longer lasting stamina with their dark magic, but Trident didn’t have the magic to back him up.

As Trident slowed down, he began taking hits, but not critical. He was being kicked and smacked, but no sharp, open wounds. However, without Trident keeping up his coordination with Nighthawk, Eclipse soon regain advantage and Nighthawk was forced to fight more defensively.

Trident finally backed down after injuries and fatigue render him ineffective. I moved in to help with the fight to compensate.

“For Shadow’s sake, Bolt! Back off!”

“No!” I shouted with determination. I did a combat roll and fired an arrow as Eclipse was focused to combat Nighthawk. I grabbed an arrow from the quiver and with my maximum strength, pulled and released the bowstring. 

This time, the arrow was travelling way faster than any arrows I have ever shot. As fast as a bullet it flew, it struck its target!

The arrowhead pierced through the knee cap of Eclipse’s left leg!

“How’s that for an arrow in the knee?” I encouraged myself to go in more aggressively, but as I was about to draw another arrow, my quiver was empty!

Nighthawk was tossed backwards from a powerful impact, and Eclipse rushed towards us. Nighthawk did a barrel roll and stood up again, continuing the battle. However, the blade was not going for him, but me!

I almost panicked, but I blocked the blade from going inside my body with my bow. The spiralling aura blends with the purple flames of the blade. For a brief moment my vision was masked with the blend of orange and purple, making the daylight looked like a romantic sunset at the coast.It would have been beautiful, if he wasn’t trying to kill me.

Nighthawk’s attack freed me from the overwhelming pressure Eclipse was applying to me. I was almost fearing that my bow would break and snap into two pieces. I moved backwards from the kill zone, and drew out a final weapon.

Granite’s revolver.

The gun was heavy and I wasn’t comfortable at holding it at first. Bullets are very different from arrows after all. I tried to aim for his chest, where I know he was protected from the actual damage, but the impact force should cripple his defence.

The first shot was painful. Not for him, but my hands. It almost felt like a hammer smashed into my wrists as I pulled the trigger. The shot was a miss, but I have 4 chances left. It’s an M500 after all, and I knew that it has 5 bullets because Granite told me since I was small.

Another shot, miss.

“Come on!”

Third shot, scratched his shoulder a little, but his reinforced clothing protected him.

Fourth shot, a hit!

He backed off a little as the bullet’s significant impact force struck on his chest hard! Nighthawk was very injured already at this point, but his life was spared from my shot.

“You little prick!” Eclipse screamed. He punched Nighthawk hard in the stomach, and Nighthawk fell. With another kick Nighthawk was flung off to the side, a metre or two away from him.

I was the final one left combatting a demon.

I pulled the trigger again, firing the last shot! He was hit in the chest again, but he didn’t back down. He tried to swing his blade, but I blocked it with my bow. The contact between the two weapons sparked and bounced off to the side.

We were both left with a handgun, but both were empty. He pulled the arrow out from his supposedly crippled knee, but he still moved nimbly as if he wasn’t shot!

Was he invincible already?

It was almost as if I was waiting for my impending death arriving. 

I barely dodged as he tried to stab me with the arrow, and as I knew my weapons well, I snapped the arrow.

He smacked me in the face and very roughly took the revolver from my hand.

He was pressing the barrel hard onto my forehead.

“Goodbye girl, I’ll miss you!”

“But it’s empty.” I spoke, while we still very fiercely looking at each other. I gripped on the barrel tightly, eagerly pushing it away, as the rule I was taught: Treat every firearm as it is loaded, even if you know it isn’t. It now not only applies to trigger discipline, but an actual combat!

My muscle memory eagerly saving me from my demise.

He laughed.

“Granite’s revolver…”

I readied my right arm.

“Has six bullets in the cylinder!” The hammer moved backwards, waiting to smash onto the bullet’s primer and send a bullet right through my skull!

I released my hands from barrel. A spiky object popped up from the sleeve of my combat uniform, and I scored my headshot faster than him!

It was the final syringe-tipped arrow!

I hid it until this very moment!

His shot missed, the bullet flew onto the ground next to me. The gunshot was loud, and I couldn’t hear anything but ringing on my right ear!

He pulled the arrow from his forehead, but I was faster, as I have already injected the tranquilliser fluid into his body. 

“Ahh! AHHH!” He screamed like a broken man. His eyes’ smoke fading away, revealing his real pupils, orange and bluish purple.

“Do not kill her!”

“Kill her!”

“Do not!”

“STOP IT!” 

His two opposing minds clashed. The two of them communicating and arguing inside the very same body. He pressed his hands on his head firmly and shook his head hard. His mind was split and torn as the real Eclipse’s spirit battled against the applied personality. 

“She is your crush!”

“She is your enemy!”

“You belong to Equestria!”

“Griffonstone Empire!”

“The Princess!”

“King Krossair!”

He continued screaming like a mad man, his vocal cord seemed to be breaking anytime soon.

“I will not surrender!” He drew out a combat knife, an M9 bayonet. He was pointing the blade at his throat, while his other hand presses it down. A battle of strength between his own arms!

I was moderately injured, but with my final lasting strength, I pushed his knife away, and then I…

Kissed on his lips.

I once thought that the resurrection kissing only exists in fantasy and children’s bed time story. But now, I believe it is true.

“Don’t die… I love you.” Now that I got to thinking, that’s one hell of a way to propose.

He went silent for a brief moment as his real spirit has overwhelmed the applied one, a two versus one battle of love and hate. Love wins.

Who dares wins. 

His real personality, had finally regained control of his own body.

He slowly calmed down, and fell to the ground onto a sitting position. He then buried his head into his arms, which are limply balanced on his knees. He began crying.

The first ever time I see a tough man as him, cry.

Underneath him, a patch of jungle soil was covered with his liquid pride, and his blood.

“Task Force, this is Lightningbolt. Target Secured, come on out.” I lied on the ground from the fatigue and pain. The crisis had been settled, and our true, patriotic Eclipse.

-

I looked downwards at my rugged, dirty uniform. The nightmare-like spirit that seemed to have devoured me had suddenly vanished. It was a horrible time for me, as I had to witness the uncontrollable body of mine hurting those I care.

My most trustworthy teammates surrounds me.

“Really? You cut my coat open with your sword? Impressive.” I complimented.

“You’ve became stronger, my brother.”

“Not necessarily a good thing though.” I picked up my Tanto and Granite’s revolver. 

“Are you okay dear?” Lightningbolt asked me with a worried tone.

“Horrible, but I’m alive. Thanks for not killing me. Speaking of which, where’s Granite?”

“Unconscious, but stable. He fell in the gorge and may have bashed his head on the ground too hard.”

“I’m…Sorry.” I didn’t know what to say already.

“It’s not your fault, Captain. If it wasn’t you, they wouldn’t be back here alive at the first place.”

I then realise, the most painful part of this incident, was not the time when I was locked up and tortured…

But when I realise how much of a monster I really am inside me.

But I also know, somewhere in my heart, I am better than that.

“Central Command! We got our man! Abort the launch!” Lightningbolt called through the radio.

“Task Force, you’re running out of time. The enemy alliance was already breaching through our intercontinental missile’s launching system. We are working on intercepting the missiles. We have to either abandon the entire island of Griffonstone, or else empty our entire arsenal into no man’s lands.”

The transmutation ended.

“So what now?”

“Intercept the missiles. I have a plan to regain control of Equestria.”


	13. All in or Nothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Eclipse's return to Equestria's side, a plan of total assault was planned. Eclipse himself would undertake a not so gracious negotiation with the allied force of Griffonstone - The Dragons.

We silently returned to Shadow Realm, where all our troops were extracted and currently based at.

I felt very weak. Both physically and mentally. Technically I wasn’t even walking, as Lightningbolt and Lannister walked on my both sides and had to drag me back.

“Your Majesty…” I entered the palace throne room, the Princess and Nighthawk are waiting for our return.

“Captain…” She spoke.

“I’m alright. We have to stop the alliance from further damaging our homeland.” I coughed.

She sighed. “Very well then, Captain. You take care of yourself now.”

“Don’t lallygag. Griffonstone Empire’s allies are way worse than I have first expected. Looks like the Zaslavsky’s have quite some friends.”

“And who are they to be exact?”

“Dragons, and the Eastern Continent of the Cypher Dominion.” 

“Absolute monarchy, and a totalitarian state? Perfect combination for disaster.”

“The dragons are marching towards Central Equestria. Krossair is hiding his sorry hide somewhere safe. We can confront the dragons there. Meanwhile the majority of the Griffonstone Armed Forces are deployed away from their homeland, which we can strike them when they are the weakest, taking the opportunist approach.”

“I do believe you have a detailed plan, Captain?”

“In fact I do. And that day we would make history. Cough.” 

Everyone in the congress and the military authorities looked at me all at once.

“We will return to the continent and directly assault the enemy allied forces. At that point we will-“

“But you know our forces are crippled, if we engage them head to head is committing suicide!” One of the attending members of the congress interrupted.

“Then shut up and let me finish. This assault is only a smokescreen, to purely attract the enemy forces’ attention away from the Central Continent. Meanwhile I will continue my disguise as a puppet of Krossair and join in the Dragons. If all goes well I would be able to confront the leader of the dragons, a “Princess Ember” to either surrender or retreat.”

“And how many of our troops would be required for the operation?”

“A lot. In fact, all. 100% of our combat effective troops must be deployed.”

“Are you nuts?”

“I know, it’s probably the most risky move in all of history to put the entire nation on the line for one attack. However, this is our only option if we wish to save our homeland. It’s all in, or nothing.”

The crowded room plunged into dead silence for a good minute or two as the Princess intensely considered my plans.

“Then… Equestria shall stand with you, Captain. We shall take the risk and gain the glory, whether it be in victory or defeat. Now that it is decided, it’s time to deliver a speech.”

The Princess stood up and in her white, royal robes, began walking towards the balcony of the Shadow Realm palace, which views straight down to the barracks. Me, although still feeling somewhat weak, also tried to stood as straight as I can, and walked outside with the princess.

On the elevated platform, I looked downwards. Soldiers and warriors of Equestria and Shadow Realm stood straight and looking upwards at us, awaiting commands.

“Fellow soldiers of Equestria and Shadow Realm, after a long and detailed consideration, we have came up with a strategy to regain our homeland. I shall leave the rest for the Captain to explain.”

The Princess finished her part of the speech and slowly stepped backwards, while I stepped forward.

“Our plan is to return to Equestria for a total assault. We will unite the Royal Guards, Royal Air Force and the Shadow Realm armed forces and land on the Western coast of Equestria, facing the enemies head to head. This is our only hope to save our land that we call home! I hope each and everyone of you will give your best effort to fight.”

Everyone just stared at me.

“I understand it will be tough for all of you, so I will give you all 48 hours to get yourself prepared. Good luck, ladies and gentlemen.”

I stepped backward. I wasn’t prepared either. It was quite uneasy to say those words when even I am uncertain of my decisions. I was literally tell everyone to prepare for a suicide mission. How could anyone with a sane mind be prepared for one?

I walked back to where my master bed chamber was supposed to be. Honestly I have never been here, but knowing that I’m his brother bound in destiny, Nighthawk did reserve a big room for me.

It was supposed to be royal, luxurious and grand, but now it is quite a mess - Maps, pens and pins scattered across the desk, bullets and small arms lying on the bed. I sat down on an ebony wood chair and stared blankly in front of me on the wall. A map of Shadow Realm, Equestria and Griffonstone Empire mounted on the wall.

Before I came into the picture, Griffonstone was supposed to be a prosperous Empire, with a very wise king keeping the Empire running. Equestria and Griffonstone was supposed to coexist in harmony and maintain a positive relationship.

Krossair Zaslavsky’s revolution succeeded, but how? 

The question is important. 

If we know how he could convince some many supporters to support his crazy monarchy, maybe we would know how to counter him. Especially during this moment in time, which a head to head battle with the Griffonstone Alliance would be a one way ticket to hell.

No matter how insanely powerful and skilful Granite was, his small group of privateers couldn’t possibly topple an entire nation’s army.

Unless…

-

48 hours later, western sea of Equestrian Continent.

Instead of sitting in the comfy and safe Aerial Command Centre - a modified commercial airliner equipped for chain of commands and supervising the battlefield, I stood at the edge on a pave low with its ramp down. 

We were approaching the continent from the west side, with the cover of the thick jungle. The landscape beneath me zoomed by as the pave low hurried towards the landing zone, southwest of Central Equestria, where the previously met Drënners still held their little heaven in the dreaded badlands.

The landing zone however, was not my objective.

Before I leave for the mission, I had some contacts from the Royal Air Force Research and Development team that preserved some prototype equipments for me. Since we were in a major disadvantage, and I’d imagine if my lone wolf mission get nasty I’d get overwhelmed for sure, every little bit helps.

I ran a final equipment check while on the pave low. The prototype equipment is what the scientist called an exo-skeleton, a frame of mechanics that resembles the shape out its user. Ideally, it should significantly increase my speed and stamina with mechanical assistance.

It would also allow me to carry a better ward projector than the one I have on my wing, and more guns. Beside my trusty Mark 14, I also have an L86 LSW mounted of the exoskeleton, a rocket launcher and a jetpack to boost my air speed.

If a gun can’t solve my problem now, than more guns should do.

Before the united armies turns towards the landing zone, I jumped out and glided towards my objective, the Canterlot castle. The dragons took over it as we retreat out of the continent. As far as I know, Canterlot was built to withstand a siege, even though we didn’t survive it.

Although for a time Krossair did had the city in his talons, the dragons took over the city right as he turned his back.

But of course, I am not daft. I wouldn’t one-man-army through the entire city to their leader. However there was something I could take advantage of.

It was the “other me” during my time in Griffonstone that we joined forces with the dragons, so they would know to look for the crazy one-winged guy with a scar on his face if they ever contact Griffonstone.

The dragons guarding the city gate halted me.

“You there! Identify yourself or I burn you down right where you stand.”

I walked forward calmly, acting as ridiculous as I was.

“Who the hell are you to talk to me like this huh! Do you know who I am? I am King Krossair’s new Captain of the Armies!”

The two dragon looked the each other and discussed under their breath.

“What is it now, peasants? How long do you need to keep your commander waiting?”

“We’re… sorry, sir. You may proceed.” They gave me a nervous gawk.

“Finally! Stupid peasants. I’ll make sure I purge you after total victory, useless lizards.”

One seemed to be triggered by my speech, but didn’t dare to confront me.

“These bastards better not have figured out how to launch the final nuke in the basement with their lizard noggins.” I muttered to myself as I hurried to the castle. 

I was supposed to look for a Princess Ember. Inherited the throne with her royal blood. More like a barbarian warlord I say.

One of the dragons’ captain stood right in front of the castle door and decided to confront me.

“You! Didn’t we told Krossair to leave this place to us? You better turn right back before I make extra roast meat for dinner tonight.”

Now I wasn’t afraid of dying. I have fire retardant equipments. But I need to ensure I can confront Ember, so that I can drive these fire-spitting reptiles out of my homeland.

“No no, you misunderstood captain. I thought the Princess needed help with the weapon here. You know, I know this place like the back of my hand.” I giggled wildly.

Either the act wasn’t good enough, or this lizard was too stubborn.

Just as I thought things would get nasty and gripped the light machine gun’s grip tightly, the target I was looking for finally arrived.

I released my hand from the gun’s grip.

“Let him in.” She simply spoke. Her sharp reptile eyes staring at me.

Upon her blue scales was a set of nickel-coloured armor. I don’t reckon bullets would go through their two layers of armor easily, so I must find the perfect moment.

“Oh here is the lovely mistress! My princess, loving the warm climate?” I smirked.

“You’re hysterical. But I don’t care. Just get the damn missiles in the air.” 

I followed her inside the castle towards the missile silo in the very base of the castle.

“What kind of rubbish system does your country even use? Can’t even get the console to work.”

I bypassed the security system with ease. I select the only missile online to target the mountain peak of south Griffonstone, with a delayed time of 6 minutes.

“You’re targeting the leat populated area in the entire Empire.” She spoke. “What tricks are you playing, slimy bastard?”

“Listen, my dear mistress. What kills them is not the explosion, no no no. It’s what spreads afterwards that kills them. They need time to get acquainted with the place before they can start killing, just like the both of us, you know?” 

“Fine. You better not muck this up.”

She then proceeded back up the top of the castle. I synced my device countdown with the launch time. 

“LAUNCHING IN T-MINUS 5 MINUTES” There goes the announcement.

I drew the gold-plated Desert Eagle pistol from Krossair.

I followed tightly behind Princess Ember. 

“You know what, you pathetic mammal? After all this is over, I will reclaim all of this continent, enslave all your kind and the griffons, and make the dragon kind glorious again.”

“Oh excuse me? What is it that you say?” A slight cold sensation tickled the barbarian princess’s noggin.

“What the hell are you-“ I followed up with an arm over her neck and muffled her, dragged her back from the balcony before she could be heard.

“So you think I’m still Krossair’s little slave? Are you really that daft, Princess? You better not do anything stupid before I drive a big hunk of metal through your sorry scale into your little lizard brain, or send you to serve Krossair in his little dungeon.”

She tried to struggle. Normally for my strength couldn’t best a dragon, but with the help of the metal skeleton, she was as helpless as a little girl as I subdued her.

After another 10 seconds of mindless struggling, she slowed down and eventually stopped, knowing that her efforts are meaningless.

I let go of my hand so that she could speak, but still keeps my arm locked in front of her throat and pulled her up.

“You finally understand how does being helpless feel like you fire-breathing reptile? Now let me show you what helpless really feels like. I’m gonna relocate the strike location to land right here and another set of missiles to bombard your home far south, and let’s see who wins this war hmm?” I threatened her, and waved a PDA in front of her.

“No wait!” She exclaimed. “Alright… let us talk about this ehh, like two rational beings shall we? What do you want?” She seemed very anxious. 

“LAUNCHING IN T-MINUS 3 MINUTES”

“I want you and your fellow dragon kind, return to your homeland at once and sign the concordat after I finish deal with this bloody war.”

“Screw you.” She angrily stared at me and her breath became deeper.

“Well that leaves me with two options. Either I end you and erase your kind from history right now, or I send you to Krossair to be his little slave. For a fine lady like you, he would love it. And I’m sure you have seen those footage of me in his dungeon yes? How exciting would it be if you were there.”

I was pushing my luck and my limits. The words I used were extreme if not illegal, and I would definitely not wish to say those kind of words ever again. But if that was the only way to break these stubborn barbarians’ will, I’d gladly oblige. It however is a war crime for me to threaten her in such manner, but I cannot care at that moment.

She, in my custody, remained silent for a good 10 seconds.

“You have around 2 minutes to decide. No pressure.” I forced her to make a decision.

“Fine. Let go of me. We’ll pack and leave. If you want to bomb Griffonstone I’d suggest you be wary. Krossair knows you going after him right now.”

“Of course. For cooperating with us, you have my gratitude. It is very wise of you to choose when you know you don’t have much of an option.”

I let go of her but still keep my pistol pointing at her skull.

“And I suggest you don’t try any tricks or antics. I’m fire proof.”

She stood back up with my gun pointing at her head in point black range. I escorted her to the balcony.

“Fellow soldiers of the dragon kind, may I have your attention please?” I spoke loudly towards the entire garrison down there. 

They all looked up at me, with a pistol on their leaders head.

“Your dear leader have an announcement to make!” I spoke again.

“LAUNCHING IN T-MINUS 1 MINUTE”

“Dragons! Hear my words! We are to retreat from the continent immediately!” She spoke out loud. She seemed quite calm, as though she had expect to be defeated long ago.

“Damn you mammal bastard! I’ll have your head!” That Captain at the door busted through and decided to ambush me. And since I expect him to do so. I quickly turned around and pushed his charging spear aside. 

I kicked him on his thighs and he lost his balance. He fell forward towards the balcony ,where the barrel of my machine gun touched his abdomen. He froze in place, seemingly feared of being shot through his scaly belly.

“You heard your leader! Now pack your stuff and get out of here, or I will bomb your homeland!”

“STRIKE LOCATION REDIRECTED. LAUNCHING IN T-MINUS 3 MINUTES.”

I lowered my pistol from her head, so that we can finally discuss matters in a more civilised way.

“I suggest you next time, don’t side with a crazy tyrant, and betray him. It’ll do you no good, Princess. Don’t worry, the war guilt wouldn’t go towards your nation. I’m a rational person. If you need anything, perhaps next time just ask.”

“Why should I trust you, hypocrite?”

I materialised a staff out of my hands. 

“Remember this? Your badge of office.” I show her the staff. It was just a normal staff, with a somewhat coarsely cut gem stone fused on top of the staff. It was the Staff of the Dragon Kind, a symbol of power among their race. Only their leader can possess it.

“If I have intended to destroy your kind, I wouldn’t have kept it for you from Krossair.”

She tried to get it desperately.

“Nuh uh. You get your soldiers back home, give them proper care and you can have it back. Stop making your subjects blindly sacrifice for nothing.”

“I’ve done my part. You better fulfil your part of the bargain.”

“No worries. I will.”

I watched as they packed their weapons and equipments. Then I remembered the guy still being held at gunpoint at this entire time.

“Come on, get up.” I retracted my machine gun so that I can reach a hand out towards him.

He seemed hesitant at first, but he still got back up from the ground with my help afterwards.

“Come on, I don’t have all day.”

“Why spare me? You were this close of killing me?”

“Listen, mate. This is not our way. We don’t do unnecessary killing. And you, being the leader’s lieutenant, shouldn’t you look after your leader? Don’t be daft, mate. Extreme thinkings won’t grant you anything. So no more the “Die in Glory” thing anymore and help your country, will you?”

“Well… you did opened my eyes for once.” 

I took out a bullet from my magazine and passed it to him.

“What’s this about?”

“A token of our new relationship, if you may. This fellow came this close to end you.”

I also returned the Staff to Princess Ember.

“Please don’t take anything I said to mind. I was merely trying to get you to listen.”

“Eclipse! My friend it is good to see you again!” Someone spoke behind me with a exotic, yet familiar accent.

I turned my head. A griffon in red, white and black feathers, with a customised AKM-74 and an M500 revolver in a holster. He was in an exo-skeleton and was wearing a black combat vest.

“Grand! You’re awake!” That was probably the most charming news I have ever received since the invasion of Griffonstone Empire began.

“Don’t be so happy yet. Lightningbolt headed to track down Krossair, and we found him. However, after Lightningbolt went quiet, we lost connection with her.”

“Then we’ll have to find them both. Save one, kill one. Where is that bastard based?”

“A mountain range in the south of Griffonstone. Not exactly the most secured structure in the Empire, but it is his final heaven.”

“LAUNCHING IN T-MINUS 1 MINUTE”

“Bollocks.” I said and rushed back down to the base.

“What’s wrong?” Granite asked as he followed me.

“There’s a doomsday missile pointing right at that location!”

“Blyat! Stop it then!”

“I’m trying!” I got on the console as quickly as possible, desperately trying to abort the launch. 

“30 SECONDS BEFORE LAUNCH.”

No of the button seemed to be working. The dead man’s switch was engaged and it couldn’t be aborted manually.

I tried to override the launch location, but the access was also denied. 

“20 SECONDS BEFORE LAUNCH.”

I felt my head soaking wet from the amount of sweat I’m getting. 

“10 SECONDS BEFORE LAUNCH.”

“Try to route through the auxiliary circuit and override the control!”

“I did!”

“LAUNCHING IN 5…”

I bashed the console forcefully in distress.

“4…”

I spammed the Abort button.

“3…”

I yanked the data line off the launching module.

“2…”

I shot the launching module.

“1…”

I screamed.

“INITIALING LAUNCHING. IGNITING.”

“Looks like we’re off for a flight show!”

“TAKE OFF SUCCESSFUL. ESTIMATED STRIKING IN 20 MINUTES.”

“This is a low altitude missile! It’ll be way faster than a normal nuke! If this thing hits Griffonstone We’re all toasted!” I screamed as I rush back up to the balcony.

“Eclipse, you helped my people, now I shall return the favour.” Ember followed me, with Granite behind. 

We leapt off the balcony. The missile was launched in a distance, which we can clearly see it ascending up to the air.

“Code Black! Code Black! Missile in the air! Missile in the air!” I warned everyone, in hope to intercept it before it’s too late.

Granite and I engaged our jetpack, white Ember held on Granite to get a boost. I engaged a magnetic grip on my gloves to hold onto the missile and goggles to shield my eyes from the blasting wind.

I took out my Sword of the Burnt Secrets and jabbed it hard onto the missile and grabbed onto it. I have read the schematics of this weapon, but in such a stressful situation it would be very sketchy as I could only guess what I am messing with.

“Captain Eclipse! This is Task Force. We are sending in two chinooks to assist you!” 

“Good! I could most definitely use a hand here.”

“What’s the plan now?” The two asked.

“Remove the killer module, and hope it overshoot Griffonstone into the sea. The mountain range at East Griffonstone should stop the tsunami afterwards!”

After pinning myself onto the missile, I moved up to the killer module. This module contained the bio-weapon and radioactive fusion core of the weapon. 

I tried to pull on the lever to loosen the latch door, but it wouldn’t budge. The lever even snapped off the base.

“Crap.” The missile is becoming unstable with three people clinging onto it.

The two chinooks released their tow wire, which I quickly fastened it towards a stable hold on the missile. 

After I stabilised the weapon, I pulled out my tanto, and with its slim side, I slipped it through the sealed latch door and tried to work my way around the door and pry it open. Granite and Ember worked on sabotaging the engines, so that this thing would slow down.

“Shadows please grant me power!” I yelled, and yanked the blade hard, which bent the metal a little. The flames on the blade went more intense and I could feel the latch door giving in.

Until it finally popped open, one of the hinges completely detached, leaving the door hanging around, swaying uncontrolled. I whacked it off and made sure it doesn’t hit the two guys below me.

It exposed a sturdy frame, in which was a contraption of enclosed nuclear fusion, only not to exceed the critical point by a very tiny fraction. Underneath the core was 4 bottles of the bio reagent of deadly micro organisms, with an extra oxygen tank and a suppressing agent that delays the bio reagent’s killing time.

I tried to detach the bolts with brute force and the help of my blade. Two corners knocked off fairly easily, giving the entire module a slight space to move. The chinooks tossed me a new set of tow lines, which I secure it onto the module.

“MISSILE STATUS: LIGHT DAMAGE. ETA 10 MINUTES.”

I better hope this thing doesn’t just explode in mid air as I defuse this.

 

I opened the valve of the suppressing agent to flow into the bio agent. However I didn’t balance the pressure, and the oxygen tank burst open in front of me and ignited with the flame on my blade!

“Bollocks!” I yelled as I tried to back off from the flames, and I lost my grip. I slipped of the side despite one of my gloves still holding onto the missile, leaving me barely dangling from the missile.

“Eclipse! You alright?” 

“I’m good! Try to detach one of the engine manually! The centre one!”

They did as I said and the flying object started to tumble a little, and I was helplessly flinging around.

But I did manage to fling myself back to the killer module and lock myself in place again.

“Bloody hell this is won’t give in easily!” I decided to take a different route. I reached my arm inside the small gap between the outer layer of the rocket and the killer module frame. I reached out to rip out a circuit and manually separated the module out, just like when it is about to strike, where the engines and modules separate. 

I threw away the commanding circuit and tried to use the battery on my exo-skeleton to short the circuit of the trajectory navigation. I was risking my life on this as the bright oxygen flames still scorches on my peacoat. It may be fire retardant, but I wasn’t sure how long will it hold before breaking down.

I heard weird noise from the engine, then the next thing I knew is the the inside of the missile went very hot! A fuel injector popped out of place and it’s making a mess inside the rocket!

I drew my hand out and waved to tell Granite and Ember to detach from the rocket.

“Good luck my friend!”

I tried to tolerate the heat and managed to pull out the oxygen tank, which I threw away. I tried to tighten the rest of the closed system to prevent further leaks. Then I managed to reach underneath the core and unplug it from the command system.

“MISSILE STATUS: CRITICAL! ENGAGING SELF DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE.”

“Bugger.” 

I did the final pull from the latch to get the hot, burning engine out of the way of the mass killing device and braced myself.

Seconds later, a flash of bright light lit the skies upon the Griffonstone Empire.

Near our objective, the chinooks got the killer module under control, and I have managed to stay alive. The engine landed just slightly forward of us down the mountains into the sea, near the shore. The killer module slammed onto the snowy mountain while the chinooks slowed down and prevented the module from flying off. 

Upon the not so gracious landing I got flung off from the impact, which I face planted into the unbelting snow and rolled sideways. I think I might have hit a rock, but I’m alright.

Without wasting anytime, I rushed back to check the killer circuit, making sure the core didn’t go critical, and the bio reagent didn’t leak. The tanks of reagents were sturdy enough to survive the impact, therefore even though dented, it did not leak.

The outer core knocked off the core itself, and therefore stopping any more reaction.

I couldn’t help but to feel relieved, and sat on the red-painted snow. I think I messed my nose up a little, but I pretty much got out unscathed.

I checked back on my peacoat. It was slightly charred and has a black taint on it, but with some scrubbing it came off rather easily.

“Captain! Are you alright?” Two the thew crews on the chinooks hopped off and went on to check on me.

“I’m alright. Just get this wretched thing to safety and disarm it. And tell the princess we should never possess weapons of such destruction capabilities.”

“Roger that, Captain. Good luck on Phase two of the mission.”

“Thanks for your help, gentlemen.”

Granite and Ember also arrived after hopping off.

“Eclipse! I see you’re not blown to pieces!” 

“Too close, my friend. Too bloody close.”

“Is there anything else I can assist you?” Ember asked.

“Go and check back on your people and make sure they either retreat or fight on our side. The Cipher Dominion is still out there causing trouble for us.”

“Alright… You take care of yourselves now.”

She took off with the chinooks.

“So what now, my friend?”

“Save Lightningbolt and Obsidian hopefully. And here to either capture Krossair, or kill that tyrant for good.”


	14. To Kill an Empire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After disarming the live mass destruction device, Eclipse and Granite went on to phase 2 of the mission - To hunt down the escaping tyrant Krossair Zaslavsky, and finally put an end to his insane monarchy once and for all.

My exoskeleton had quite fortunately survived the impact very well. My guns are functional and it still runs smoothly.

“Alright, comrade. This is Krossair Zaslavsky’s final heaven, and hopefully his resting place.”

“I will send his souls to the Shadows to punish him for all he has done. For me, for you, for Lightningbolt, for Obsidian, for Equestria, for Griffonstone.”

“Expect very heavy resistance. Every single remaining soldier’s will be here.”

“How massive is this place?”

“Imagine the entire city of Canterlot built into a mountain.”

“Finding a needle in a haystack eh?”

“For all that I know, there isn’t much exits in this place. Most of them involve underwater chambers, only this is open to an aerial space.”

“Fine. All I wish is this bastard brought to the Light, or the Shadows.”

We nodded at each other, a final encouragement for each other. After all the battles you thought we would adapt to the the sense of dying at any time. But you are wrong. We know the truth, but it is never easy to get used to it.

Especially this one. If we die in there, then Krossair would be gone for good. All of our previous effort wasted, and the bad guys gets away and set up a nice life on exile.

I took a deep breath and walked in together with Granite. I held my Mark 14 and he held his AKM-74. Inside the structure was pretty dark, as only a few lights remained on to weakly light up the area.

“Smells like motor oil and rust.”

As the Descendant of the Shadows, I could adapt to these dark environment with ease. By the looks of it, we were in an aircraft hanger, which was abandoned for long. There were leaking fuel tanks, rusty metal frames and a slight scent of decay. Last era aircrafts, or what’s left of them, scattered across this huge area.

Except for one chopper.

I carefully inspected it. It was a new model chopper, and should be just docked here recently.

“So the flat area of snow outside is supposed to be a runway.” 

I swiped my blade on one of the wires on the chopper.

“This is an easy fix, but most people ignore this and takes ages to inspect the aircraft. So as long as we need this later, we know how to start it.”

We walked towards the very end of the area, which appeared to be a cargo elevator shaft. I tried to look downwards, but there wasn’t light anywhere, except the very bottom of the shaft, that a shimmer of artificial light passed through the massive gap.

“Looks like he made the previous ruins into his home.” I tried to call the elevator, but I could only hear some gear grinding sound and a loud squeak.

“What now?”

“Down.” I stepped backwards and sprinted, and as my feet touches the edge of the ground, my legs stretched like springs and I leapt forward, grabbing the cord in the middle of the shaft. I slightly loosen my grip as to ripple down this rabbit hole.

As we slowly went down, I looked around the shaft. There were concretes peeled right of the wall, exposing rusty steel bars inside them. Even the cord we’re holding on are dusted with rust.

We reached the bottom of the shaft, and a tilted elevator cart was stuck between the well and the floor.

“How do they even get in here?” I wondered. 

I pried open a piece of the facade, which gave us access to the structure inside. I carefully hopped down, making sure to be as quiet as possible. Not only is this place old, it’s also somehow overgrown with veins and grass.

It’s much brighter down here than in the aircraft dock above. We walked along the corridor that leads us even deeper down. 

Until we eventually arrived at walkway on top. We could look down at the floors below. A griffon in robes was sitting on an ancient throne. There were a few guards patrolling around casually, not noticing our existence here. 

Ready to engage. 

I unfolded my bipod and readied to take care of the robed griffon tyrant, while Granite bust through the area to clear out any guards alone.

“Ready.” He whispered through the radio.

“3, 2, 1…” I counted.

I pulled the trigger. A suppressed fire. The bullet hit the griffon’s skull right on! His body leant back lifelessly on the throne and the other guards were shot to death by Granite.

“Hell yeah.” I rejoice.

Granite went to check on the body.

“Ayy Cyka.”

“Well, well, well. Look who we have here.” Speakers around the room started playing a sarcastic clapping. “Do you two remember me, Grand? Eclipse?”

“Damn it! Krossair, where the bloody hell are you?!” I screamed furiously.

“It was a great show to witness. You simple men, all you killed is my body double that I paid 2 dollars for a bigger to be a king!”

“Show yourself, coward!” Granite yelled.

“Now now, they say all men has weaknesses. Let’s put that to the test, shall we?” A wall facade pulled backwards to show a huge monitor, with more images I wish not to even mention.

“Lightningbolt!” I screamed.

“Obsidian!” Grand screamed at the same time.

“Now now, let’s see. I’ll give you guys 15 minutes to come save them. And shall I remind you, I like young girls.” With an evil chuckle, there were no longer his accursed voice, but sirens and flashing lights all over the structure.

The walkway I was one fractured and I fell one floor down along with the rubble. Fortunate for me no rocks hit me, and I could get up right away.

I extended the light machine gun back to my hand’s reach again. Granite was already opening fire as swarms of living soldiers and clones came rushing through from the tall gate. 

I have a more advanced version of the suit, which I used the armour and barrier to begin pushing through the crazy resistance we were facing.

“Idi Nahui!” I sprayed bullets right in front of me, and using my left arm to bash and swipe foes away. 

“We need to find a way down!” Grand yelled. 

100 rounds quickly ran dry, and I swap on a fresh drum full of ammunition quickly. My projectile barrier was draining in high speed due to the amount of fire we were taking. I busted through glass panes and ripped open steel bars to get to save our dearest ones.

“Hang on! I have an idea!” I threw an EMP grenade to interfere with the clones, while not affecting our own armour. 

I only brought 400 rounds for my machine gun, which were all gone within minutes. I dismounted my gun, and whacked a few soldiers trying to claw me. I then tossed the rifle off the sides and rushed towards wherever Krossair was trying to lead us to. We didn’t spend much time evaluating his instructions. All that we cared, was for our love to be safe, and Krossair to be eliminated.

We came towards a door, and according to Krossair, Lightningbolt and Obsidian should be behind this door, locked up in a glass chamber. My projectile barrier had been fully drained and all of our rifles out of ammunition.

And all we have left, are the final few bullets in our pistol.

-

We arrived at the room the tyrant had lead us to.

I gripped my M500 revolver tight in my claws. Eclipse was facing me, his back on the opposite wall, gripping onto his Titanium-Gold-plated Tiger stripes Desert Eagle.

An image overlapped my vision. It was a memory, a decade ago.

The image of young Krossair Zaslavsky overlapped with Eclipse, while the only place that the two images have in common…

Were the guns.

10 years ago, two men with two powerful pistols overthrown an Empire.

10 years later, the prophecy has repeated itself.

Today, two men with two powerful pistol, will overthrow an Empire.

I kicked the door open, and we both rushed inside the room.

It was the room that we saw on the monitor back outside the walkway.

In front of us, were two young ladies, completely naked, and tied up. Their mouths were gagged, making muffled noises. The one on my side was a griffon, fur dark as ebony. The other on, on Eclipse’s side, was one with pink hair, and one that I definitely recognise.

Krossair was there.

He didn’t seemed to care about us busting into his lair. As he continuously harassed the girl with pink hair’s private parts with his genitals. The two girls had suspicious white fluid on their body, which I could only assume is Krossair’s doing.

A nightmare that I thought I had prevented years ago.

Eclipse was dead shocked. He seemed to new as pale as the whitest white one could imagine.

“Oh? You are here? Finally. I was getting bored so I decided to have some fun myself.” He grabbed the pick hair and cleaned his genitals with it.

Now I noticed. Two soldiers on each side of the glass chambers, with tasers, and a rifle.

Eclipse was trying as hard as he could to keep calm in this situation.

I was at the edge of raging.

“Krossair Zaslavsky, King of the Griffonstone Empire. We are here to arrest you for causing genocide, starting a national military conflict, taking prisoners of war, usage of banned weapons, sexual assault, rape, first degree murder, manipulation of people’s mind, slavery, causing mass destruction, torture and inhumane treatments to others, attempt assassination, usage of child soldiers, corruption, and taking hostages. Come to us quietly and face justice!”

Eclipse just listed out a part of this bastard’s crime.

“Now, assuming my calculation are right, both of your guns should have 1 bullet left in the chamber.”

I took a peek at my revolver’s chamber. All the primers had been spent, leaving only the one bullet on the barrel unused.

Eclipse pulled back his Desert Eagle to check the chamber. One bullet as well.

“Now let’s play a game.” He laughed like a mad man.

The two soldiers fired their tasers at the two girls. As the electricity passed through their bodies, the two poor girl’s muscles tensed up, and tried to scream in pain. However, with their gags on, they couldn’t only make muffled moans.

“Ahh the sound of young girls, moaning and desiring to have more from their master. The sound always excites me. Also makes me want to have a round again with them, a comfortable bed with their warm tongues serving me.” 

“You crazy pedophile!” I raised my revolver and pointed straight at Krossair’s head.

“Don’t waste you bullets, Grand. This glass you see here can withstand a .50 calibre shot. Your   
.500 magnum wouldn’t do you much good killing me. Perhaps you should try to shoot these two guys and decide who to save before they both die in front of your eyes.”

As I tried to think how to deal with the situation, a scary scream came right beside me. Eclipse was struck by some kind of beam. He fell down and started to make some of the most scary screams I’ve ever heard. Puddle of blood started to expand under his body, from his waist.

“You have 3 seconds to do whatever you want after I leave this room. Looks like even a sixth bullet won’t help you this time. So long, you simple men.”

He jogged out, and the panel obstructing my shot fell off.

One bullet.

Save who?

Help me!

But wait…

Who said a gun must be loaded to be lethal?

I swiped my gun towards the soldier on the left and fired a round onto his head, then threw my revolver toward the guy on the right and rushed forward at the same time. As the revolver hit his head he staggered, which I took advantage of this and clawed him down, tainting the glass chamber wall with red.

I quickly bash the doors open and cut the two girls loose from their bondage. 

“Grand?” Lightningbolt spotted me in an instant. 

“Alright, we’ll reunite later, I’ve got more pressing matter!” I rushed back to Eclipse, who then pulled me closer to him with his bloody hand.

“Kill that bastard… with his own gun…” He struggled to spit out his words.

“Hang in there, my friend!”

“Don’t worry… I’m half a god… I won’t die that easily.”

He then pulled his blade out from his sheath.

“Lord of the Shadow… Hear my words… cough… For I proof… Granite Kalashnikov… worthy of the blade of the Shadows… And shall wield it and… cough… unleash its power upon my foes…”

As he said so, the blade itself flashed white, and his eyes glowed demonically again. 

After the blade stopped flashing, he passed me his blade.

“Go on, use this blade and end Krossair… Chop off his filthy genitals… and send him to the Shadows with his own gun… I’ll catch up with you…”

“Damn it Eclipse, I ain’t leaving you bleeding here like this!”

“Go…! Before he escapes and our efforts goes to waste… Bolt will help me…” 

I looked over at Lightningbolt, she nodded.

“Take good care of them for me, my girl.”

I then took the golden pistol, and Eclipse’s blade, to finally, put an end to that tyrant’s reign.

In front of me was supposed to be an impenetrable thick layer of glass. With Eclipse’s blade, it sliced open like hot knife through butter. I quickly traced a hole on the glass and kicked the piece out of the way, then slip through.

I began running, as fast as I can, in this linear path where Krossair escapes. Images of Obsidian, Lightningbolt and Eclipse… and more… getting hurt because of Krossair all flashed in front of me, almost like a hallucination.

It was a path going upwards, possibly to the chopper, or one of the undersea escapes. 

“Krossair! Face me if you’re a man!” I yelled, hopefully to locate that griffon.

I bashed through a door and into what appears to be a room of a great statue. Due to ageing the face of the statue was barely recognisable.

But I wasn’t there to worship someone. I’m here for the killing.

It seemed to be a dead end.

“Granite, Granite, you simple man. When will you learn you can never take me on?”

“Want to try?” I brawled.

“You really have a death wish then, Vladimir Kalashnikov.”

“You are not worthy of calling upon my father’s name!” I pointed the pistol at him.

“Looks like your father’s history has repeated itself.”

“So that’s it? You are the true killer of my father?”

“Or else what would you expect? How do I buy you on if your father warned you about me?”

“Bastard!”

“You know your little friend who calls himself Eclipse has this neat weapon called the Sword of the Burnt Secrets, and it is a key to reveal all the things anyone tried to hide. You, Granite, you didn’t deserved to be born! You father cheated on Malachite’s mother, and got your mother pregnant! I was simply doing the god’s biddings.”

“This doesn’t concern you, now time for you to die!” 

“You still don’t get it don’t you? I possess everything I need to know of how to take over the world!”

“Doing God’s bidding? So does turning males into females and turning every single young lady into your plaything count as doing the god’s bidding huh?!”

“You’ll understand when you reach hell! Send Boris and his daughter my regards, and… have some fun with her again eh?”

“Oh really? So how about you killing the brother that loved and cared about you so much just to get an inheritance?”

“Wait! You know that!?”

I brandished the blade.

“No… You are just a peasant! A petty mortal! You couldn’t control its power!”

I then tried to mimic when Eclipse said.

“Lord of the Shadows, hear my voice!” The blade then extended into a full sized katana, and I have the advantage.

“So it begins.” He summoned a sword out of thin air and decided to go blade to blade on me.

I dashed forward and swung my blade, which he easily dodged. He tried to cut corner and put his knife on my back, which I then quickly flick my blade behind me, blocking his swing.

“With this blade I know all of your moves!” I decided to go all-in.

He tried to strike me down from above, which I quickly blocked and flung him off. With his other claw exposed, I took the advantage and twisted it, displacing his left for arm from his joint.

He continued to back track as I bash attack him more and more, taking advantage of the knowing of Krossair, I continued to keep Krossair suppressed and staggered. 

“Surrender now! There’s no way you’ll leave here alive!” 

“Try me.” He continued to fight even though it was certainly a losing battle for him.

Out of my expectations, he suddenly grabbed hold of my arm with my blade. I tried to swing him off but locked me in hard.

“Idi nahui!” I kicked backwards, but he dodged it. 

The thing I realise, I lost my blade.

He then bashed me with the blade, and my pistol flung off to the side. I tried to engage him without any weapons, but now he has the advantage over me, as he had previously hacked the blade with his crooked experiments.

I tried to stop him from cutting me open from the middle, and I instinctively caught the blade in my claws. The blade went quite deep into my claws and I could feel blood pouring from them.

His power attack staggered me, and as I tried to fight back, he shagged me and I fell to the ground, his blade 1 centimetre above my throat.

“Got anything to say dawg? Before I send you to met your dreadful father?”

I stared at him with pure anger.

“Screw you.”

“Perhaps I misjudged you, Grand. Do you want a farewell fingering? Hahaha.”

He raised the blade in an executioner’s stance.

“I’ll send Malachite your regards.”

“RAGH!”

Someone just busted in the room we were in and went straight for Krossair!

It’s Eclipse!

The blade slipped from Krossair’s claws and dropped on the ground. Ignoring the pain of the deep wounds on my claw, I pushed myself back on a standing pose and went for the blade. I quickly grabbed it before Krossair could get it.

Krossair kicked Eclipse on his wound and Eclipse rolled off the the side, which was the perfect moment to strike!

I took aim and I stabbed downward!

Krossair screamed painfully.

“This one is for King Boris!”

I jabbed the blade down again.

“For Eclipse!”

I swung the blade from the side, at a slicing stance!

“Lightningbolt!”

A straight chop with the blade, like an execution!

“Obsidian!”

And the final blow was the roughest, as if I was digging his flesh up!

“For my father! For the Empire!”  
Krossair continued to scream and squirm intensely, as blood spewed out like a fountain from his ruined crotch. I did just as Eclipse told me to.

Eclipse then slid the pistol to me in his state of lying down, which I picked it up.

“You dirty this world no more, Krossair Zaslavsky.”

“Go on… hahah… go ahead and end it. It won’t change a damn thing. If I am going down… you are coming with me!” He struggled to slur out his final words.

After blankly watching him suffer for a minute or two, I pointed the gold pistol at his noggin, and with one final trigger pull, blood splattered across his face and leaked on the ground. His body went limp and lied there motionlessly.

I ended the war.

King Krossair the Terrible is no more.

I fell backwards and sat on the floor, looking at Krossair’s blood soaked robes and my wounded claws. Eclipse managed to crawl up and look at me, even though I could still see his expression that he was under great pain.

I left the blade stabbed onto Krossair’s lifeless body as if it was a sword stone, and the empty pistol that was cocked backwards lying on Krossair’s big puddle of blood.

“You did it Grand…” He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and I could he the damage on his waist was very bad.

“Grand! Eclipse!” The two girls came into the room moments later. Lightningbolt was covered by Eclipse’s blood soaked peacoat, the medals on it making crisp jingling sound like a wind chime.

Obsidian wore Eclipse’s blood soaked shirt. Nothing really fancy, but should at least cover up her private parts.

“Obsidian my love… If only this happened earlier…” I wasn’t sure why, but I had a slight sensation of guilt and regret as I faced her.

She didn’t speak at first, but handed me something. My revolver. Our revolver. I took it and placed it back into my holster. Eclipse struggled to stand up and retrieved his blade. The blade flashed white again and shrunk back to its original length, which he then sheathed the blade.

“Let’s get you to the medic.” I stood back up, and pulled Eclipse up. Just as we were about to get out of this massive structure, I heard a loud and deep collapsing noise from behind the wall. Little streams of sea water started to seep and pour from the cracks on the wall.

“Looks like he wanted to have the last laugh.” 

“Well then we better get going before he gets it.”

I lied his arm over my shoulder and dragged him out of the room, the two girls following us close behind. Since the entire path was linear, that means we would have to go back down from where we came from, then reach back up to sea level.

The amount of water rushing inside was continuously increasing. And as we ran downstairs, the water came rushing down next to our feet, making each step we take more susceptible to slip and roll down the lengthy staircase. 

By the time we reach the room we rescued Lightningbolt and Obsidian, the staircase was already like a rapid stream in a rainstorm. I heard stone works colliding behind us, and the sound of water flushing was almost deafening. 

We walked through the room with the water at our stomach’s level. I had to quick ditch my metallic exoskeleton, as it did nothing but dragged me downwards in water.

Eclipse’s suit wasn’t coming off, and I had to make do with that for now, as the water level inside was still rising.

It was the long corridor that we fought through to reach the room. There were supposed to be water pumps that keep this place dry, as we saw a while ago as we passed through, it seemed that the motors in these pumps had stalled out and the pump was functioning.

Taking a left turn led us back downwards again. The room ahead was already filled with water to the very top, and it was a huge room to swim through in one breath. I took a quick dive downwards to see if there were anything that could help us.

Several canisters of oxygen were floating inside the room. I instructed them to quickly dive in and grab a canister and swim through. I was the last to dive back in.

However, one slimy bastard slipped in behind us and rushed forward to rob my can of air. The three of them stopped and looked backwards at us as he attempted to kill me.

I used gestures to tell them to keep going as I tried to get rid of him. My breath could typically last 2 minutes without moving, but in an intense underwater fight I expect to only last 20 seconds, so I must hurry before I drown.

Obsidian didn’t know how to swim, but Bolt and Eclipse knew, and they helped her out. This guy tried to punch me in the water, but it was powerless as the water resisted his movements. I clawed on his face, making the water around us red and opaque. I was running out of breath, and this guy was still enjoying the oxygen he had and seemed to not give up until I die.

I figured game time’s over, and I used the canister he had floating around to bash into his face. The breathing apparatus detached from him, which I then took over for a quick breath. Before he could strike again I scratched his neck with my claw, right onto his aorta. The water around me went more opaque, and he went floating in the water lifelessly.

I then swam through as fast as I can manage, trying to catch up with the three of them. There was a flood gate up ahead, which we could reach the walkway we came in from. The water had risen to a dangerous level, and had triggered the gate’s closing sequence. 

The gate closes quickly, but Eclipse jammed his exoskeleton’s arm between the two doors and allowed us to slip through. The elevator shaft was just around the corner, and the wall the separated the walkway and the shaft crumbled into a pile and the shaft was literally right next to the flood gate. 

“Captain Eclipse, do you copy? We are circling around your position but we cannot see you.”

It was the evac team.

“Evac team! This is Granite! Proceed inside the structure! We have 3 wounded and the water level is rising!”

“Roger that!” 

The water was rushing through and already submerged half of our bodies. I tried to remove Eclipse from his suit to free him but the suit’s computer suffered a system failure and wouldn’t dismount.

I tried to pull his arm with the metal frame sideways to remove it from the gate, but the gate was stuck in its closing sequence and clamped the metal frame hard. 

The evac team threw a chopper hook down the elevator shaft and I had to move away from Eclipse and let the two girls out first. With them out of the way I tried to pry his suit’s frame off the gate.

The evac team dumped the hook down again, and the water level had already reached my chest, and Eclipse was barely sticking his head out of the water to breathe.

I tried to pull the hook to the stuck arm but it wasn’t long enough, also because the shaft was obstructing the clearance to the pulling motor up. I could only hook it to his back on the suit and ordered the evac team to tug on the wire to pull us up.

The wire went tense as it slowly pulls upwards. I could only hope that Eclipse’s arm doesn’t get ripped off his body as I pull him out. I heard a metallic snapping noise, and Eclipse was free from the trap, his arm still intact, while his suit’s frame warped and broke off. The flood gate snaps shut and the water finally stopped flowing in. 

It took quite a moment for us to reach the top, considering we were way heavier than the girls, especially because of the suit and weapons we had on us, but we made it out.

The moment we reached the top I couldn’t help but once again lied down on the floor for relief, and to take in what just happened.

“Thanks man, you saved me.” Eclipse thanked me.

“Nah. I owed you for deus ex Eclipse before Krossair stabbed me.”

Both of us laughed heartily.

“So what is the becoming of Krossair Zaslavsky?” The evac team leader asked. He was an old man, in the same outfit as Eclipse. I recognise him.

Eclipse turned his head with joy. “Captain Windspear!”

“Don’t worry Captain. Krossair is dead for good.”

“Well let’s leave the celebrating part for later. Better get you all to the medic and fix you all up.” He helped us onto the chopper, and we were on our way back to Shadow Realm for now.


	15. Light in the Darkness

This inter-specie war spanned over a year. I’m glad it’s over.

“Captain, what’s the becoming of the Cypher Dominion? Haven’t heard from that totalitarian dictator for a while now.” I asked. The Griffonstone Alliance was supposed to consist of three nations - Griffonstone Empire, Dragons Lair and the Cypher Dominion. 

With hope, the Griffonstone warriors would soon loose heart to their late King and return home. The Dragons had officially surrendered, leaving only the Cypher Dominion to be in war.

“We didn’t see a single Cypher soldier on the field. We only saw griffons.” Captain Windspear reported.

“So the Cypher Dominion didn’t attack?”

“I don’t know about them. The only thing I understand now is that the griffons had retreated and we regained the continent. I say, your Delivery-Day plan worked out quite successfully.”

“I wish I know how to commandeer soldiers more efficiently like you, Captain. I still have much to learn.”

The two of us chuckled. 

I looked over to Lightningbolt and Obsidian. They put on some female Air Force uniform we had spare on board, and I once again put on my blood soaked shirt and peacoat.

“I still don’t get it. Your clothes weren’t damaged but your waist was bleeding like crazy.” Granite asked.

“Magic.” I answered, with a smoother tone, as my wounds were properly treated and I felt much better, “This bastard took my tanto and tapped into its magic. I’m glad he’s dead. A crazy tyrant with one of the strongest dark magic source? I shudder at the thought.” 

“You mean King Sombra? Your quote-unquote, father?”

“Probably. I wasn’t sure what he had done before me and my brother came into existence, but from what you people say, it must be horrible.”

“Ask the Princess. She fought him herself, and with her sister.”

I leant back and kept quiet for a short while.

“My love, are you alright? Oh my, what have Krossair done to you?” Granite turned his attention t Obsidian, his long lost lover.

I didn’t understand a single word Obsidian spoke, as she spoke in Griffon language.

“Hey Eclipse…” Lightningbolt tapped my shoulder.

“Yes dear?” 

She passed me my Mark 14 rifle.

“Here. You left it behind when you went for Grand.”

“Thank you Bolt. Thank you as well, Captain. Your rifle haven’t failed me at all. A trustworthy companion out there in the fields.”

“I had this rifle with me almost as long as I was in the Royal Air Force, and it never failed me. They say even inanimate object has their consciousness. If its true, then he’d probably be your best friend you can have.”

“Speaking of best friend…” I was quite anxious to bring up this topic. I spent my entire time in Griffonstone thinking about this, while my second mind was in charge of my body.

“Lightningbolt, my dear…” I whispered my question to her.

She blushed and looked at me.

“I’d love to, dear. But can we talk about this after, well, our nation recovers?”

-

8 months after the war. 1800.

I was walking along a beach. In a distance was Manehatten. After the destruction and rebuilding, it looked quiet different from what I use to know.

They sky shined a vivid blend of colours. At the very distance, the Sun sets as it started to lower and sink down Griffonstone’s mountains. A bright orange and red tainted the clouds, while purple and pink shined on the opposite side of the sun, as the night approaches.

The badge on my uniform changed from two strokes silver to three stars. A quite dramatic change, but if that’s what the Princess gives me, I wouldn’t argue.

I sat down on the soft sand and stared at the distance. Frames of the war seemed to flash in front off me. I could see the Aerial Command Centre crash down into the harbour in front of me, and the exploding rocket engine above Griffonstone. All in a third person perspective.

It was quiet. I could hear seagulls and the water rushing towards the shore. No more gun fire, no more explosions, no more warships clashing, and no more dreadful screams of dying men.

I took out the gold-plated pistol. It was polished to a point where it was a mirror-like finish. The orange twilight shined upon the gun, making a flash upon the gun itself. I looked at myself on the gun, I could see my different coloured eyes, and the scar on my eye.

Out of my expectations, a figure also appeared on the gun’s reflection. Pink hair, white fur. Violet uniform, black bow.

I turned my head and I saw her. She smiled at me warmly.

“Something on your mind, Lieutenant General?”

“Oh hey, Bolt. Long time no see.”

“Do I make you upset? You sound pretty numb.”

“Of course not! I uhh…”

She sat down next to me, and looked forward. We both stared at the beautiful sunset for a while, silently.

“Here. The Princess told me to give you this.” She passed me a badge.

It was the same badge as the one I gave Sky Striker’s family. A Sunhollow badge, with my services and honour engraved on the back. Worth a small fortune, but it was the meaning it bears that is the most valuable.

“Thanks. I assume you’re not just here for errands?”

“The past months had been busy. Settling refugees, rebuilding the nation, keeping peace during this chaotic mess. I barely get 5 hours of sleep a day, really.”

“The Princess appointed me to be the man in charge of everything of the Royal Air Force. Restocking aircrafts and small arms, honouring our fallen brothers, keeping the skies clear. We’ve all been busy.”

She leaned her head onto my shoulder.

“Sometimes I wish, we haven’t met in such a horrible condition.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve hurt everyone. It’s just-“

“You need not blame yourself, Eclipse. We know.”

I sighed.

“So that day.”

“Hmm?”

“Was anything you said merely to save me, or was it true?”

She patted on my tanto.

“You know that.”

“Really?”

“Have I been merely trying to save you, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”

“Wow. I’ve never expected that. I mean, I’m a descendant of a tyrant that planned to destroy the world. Imagine I tell anyone I met about that. How would they react? I am born evil, and I have a demon inside of me.”

“So what about me? Krossair tried to make me a killing machine. I’m not supposed to use magic, but they just jabbed a horn onto my skull. However, I never let that bother me a single bit.”

“I've killed so many people I've lost count. I can't come back from this. I'm a monster. I can feel the anger inside me. But I am still, somewhere inside me, more than that. Better than that.”

“Not quite the original.”

“I heard that somewhere else.”

She kissed me on the cheek. A gentle touch of her lips on my face.

“It’s okay, dear. I say we go have a nice dinner, before we head back to our duties. Have a day off to let go of our past.”

She stood up and reached her hand out to me.

I held her hand and stood up.

 

“Eclipse was a fitting name for me. It always keeps a lesson in my heart. It is the shadows that show us the light. In an eclipse, darkness surrounds all of us, but it is always a brief process. Once the sunlight returns, we will know it.”

The end.


End file.
